VRTA Spotlight

In this Email:

A Message From the VRTA President
VRTA Member Benefits Information
Today's Interest Rates
Fall Into Savings - Home and Auto Quote
Redistricting Again? I Thought We Just Did That
Important VRTA Dates to Remember

November 2025

A Message from YOUR VRTA President, Karen Whetzel -

Moving Forward Together!

Our vision: All retired school personnel will be safe, productive, informed and financially secure in retirement.

Our mission: to be the voice, resource, and connection for all retired school personnel.

As we approach Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the VRTA Executive Committee as well as other VRTA committees, for District and Local leaders, and for each individual member. Together we are stronger!

Did you know that Virginia Retired Teachers Association celebrates it’s 90th anniversary in 2025? At the VRTA Fall Conference in Richmond, we celebrated by learning about VRTA history through displays of old scrapbooks, through facts presented throughout the conference, and through a Past President’s Roundtable in which all living presidents were invited to talk about their accomplishments during their term of office, challenges, and more. Nina McClanahan and Helen Tippie each talked about their presidency; Jim Bradford sent information read by Mary Jane Mutispaugh; Jean Marrow sent information read by Louise Mont-Adams. President Karen Whetzel shared information from Ben McCartney, Glenn Pair Sr., and Phyllis Eastridge. We thank all of these past presidents for all that they did to make our organization what it is today!

VRTA is part of the National Retired Teachers Foundation, a division of AARP (NRTA was founded in 1947 by Dr. Percy Andrus, who also founded the AARP in 1958. (VRTA was founded in 1935 by Dr. Cornelia Storrs Adair, well before the NRTA and AARP!) At the Fall Conference, we were pleased to have NRTA Director Al Campos, NRTA Senior Legislative Liaison Adam Goldberg, and AARP Virginia President Joyce Williams join us for a great reception! Because Social Security is also celebrating 90 years, NRTA provided TWO cakes – one for VRTA and one for Social Security, as well as delicious food! THANKS to NRTA/AARP Virginia for all you did to make the 2025 Fall Conference a success.

Creekside Advisors’ Jim DuBrueler brought bags with the VRTA 90th anniversary logo designed by Emily Simmers at Creekside! The logo was also used on the program! Thanks to Creekside and Emily!

Thanks to District P and District N for inviting me to their meetings in October, 2025! These are two of our bigger, active districts which are thriving. At my own District G meeting in October (which is one of the small districts that is struggling), we welcomed the President and Secretary of District N as well as the President of District F who met with us. Are there any small districts that might combine with nearby ones? Send your ideas on District structure to me!

Your ideas on the state conferences are also welcomed, as this is another area that the Executive Committee will be working on. Talk with your District and Local members: do you prefer to go to one meeting a year, and if so, Spring or Fall? Do you prefer to keep two meetings a year and implement cost savings as we are now spending money from reserves to subsidize the state meetings. (Going to one meeting a year would require bylaw changes.)

Check out the President’s Facebook account: Karen Whetzel VRTA President, for more about the 2025 Fall Conference. Please make this a two-way communication by asking me questions or giving me suggestions. If I can help you your local unit/district in any way, email me at kswhetzel@gmail.com or call me at 540-740-8589!

Thank you to all of the VRTA members who have shown support during my presidency! Happy Thanksgiving!

Karen Whetzel

VRTA President

Phone: 540-740-8589

Email: kswhetzel@gmail.com

Scan the QR code on your smartphone or click it to look at Karen Whetzel's VRTA President's page!

If you ever wonder what it means to have VRTA benefits? Visit the website – vrtabenefits.org to see what benefits are available to you.

Gena Young

540-722-2529, ext. 120

genay@creeksideadvisors.net

Haylee Combs

540-722-2529, ext. 121

hayleec@creeksideadvisors.net

Insurance Advisory Services

Home & Auto
Medicare Products
Long-term Care
Life Insurance
Fixed Indexed Annuities

Financial Advisory Services

Retirement Income Planning
Pension Survivorship Analysis
Portfolio Management

Phone (540) 722-2529

Toll-Free (800) 467 5425

Email: savenow@creeksideadvisors.net

REDISTRICTING AGAIN? I THOUGHT WE JUST DID THAT

Yes, we did just do that. In 2020 Virginia voted 65.69% to 34.31% to transfer the power to draw the state’s congressional and legislative districts from the state legislature to a redistricting commission composed of both legislators and citizens. Was this a perfect system? No, it wasn’t, but it was a great improvement over the old gerrymandering system that allowed politicians, the ones in the majority in the legislature, to pick their voters instead of voters picking their legislators. It was an effective attempt to make elections more fair.

In 2023, Democrats secured a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates. However, in this last election, Democrats gained 13 seats and now have a 64-36 majority. (Senators are elected every four years. Democrats have a 21-19 majority in this chamber.) Since the Democratic sweep in the recent election, in the 2026 GA Session Democrats will control both chambers, the House with a wider margin, and the statewide offices of governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Although Republicans have a majority on the federal level in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, a few months ago, President Trump encouraged Texas, a large, very red state, to redistrict congressional districts again before the 2026 elections with the hope of picking up as many as five more Republican seats to increase the majority they already have. Then California, a large blue state, recently voted to gerrymander its congressional districts to increase its Democratic seats to offset any increase in Texas. North Carolina and Missouri have already gerrymandered their political maps. Other states to date that are considering or are already engaged in this process include Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Ohio (State law requires redistricting before next year anyway.) Utah, and Wisconsin.

What about Virginia? Friday, November 2, Virginia Democrats in the legislature, with their thin majority, passed an amendment to the Virginia State Constitution with the following provisions:

Virginia can redraw its congressional maps in the middle of the decade if other states do it first. (Texas has already redrawn its maps.)
The legislature, not the bipartisan redistricting commission, will redraw the maps. (This is blatant gerrymandering, exactly what the Constitutional Amendment passed overwhelmingly in 2020 was intended to eliminate.) The Redistricting Commission is left intact and is not eliminated.
This amendment would only be in effect from January 1, 2026, to October 31, 2030.

Where are we now, and what happens next? Now the first step in passing this constitutional amendment has been accomplished.

It passed the legislature once; all members of the House of Delegates have been elected to office and will be sworn in when the GA meets January 14, 2026.
The second step is that the newly elected legislature will vote on this legislation again, probably very soon after convening. A constitutional amendment is a resolution, not a bill that has to go through committee procedure, crossover, etc.
The third step is a vote by the people. A special election may be called 90 days after the second approval of the GA, which could be in the spring. If it passes this vote, the GA will draw new congressional maps to be effective in the election November 3, 2026. After that election, this temporary amendment with new districts will expire and Virginia will revert to the Redistricting Commission procedures.

Note: Six of Virginia’s 11 congressional representatives are Democrats. Some political strategists believe Democrats might pick up one or possibly two Republican seats with this redistricting. The goal is to attain a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives where the Republicans now have a very narrow margin. The goal of redistricting in red states is to increase their narrow majority.

Is this a wise plan???

To be continued.

Bea Morris

VRTA Legislative Co-Chairperson

Email: beam1340@gmail.com

Important VRTA Dates to Remember

Thursday, January 29, 2026: Lobby Day at the General Assembly

Monday, March 30, 2026: Spring 2026 VRTA newsletter deadline (which will be electronic only, posted on vrta.us in color!)

Tuesday, April 28 & Wednesday, April 29, 2026: VRTA Spring Delegate Assembly at the Doubletree by Hilton in Midlothian, Virginia.

Tuesday, June 30, 2026: Deadline for submitting VRTA Community Service Report, With Our Youth Award Application, 2026-27 district and unit officer information for the Directory, and District/Unit Combined Annual Report.