Texas children are living through a reality that many parents and school administra­tors never thought possible-learning the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, and more through videoconferencing. To­day, the Texas Retired Teachers Foundation launches a new online tutoring website to help students achieve academic suc­cess, whether they are learning in a traditional classroom or from home.

“None of us have ever ex­perienced ‘distance learning’ in our school system the way today’s children are,” said Tim Lee, executive director of the Texas Retired Teachers Asso­ciation and its charitable part­ner organization, TRTF. “We’re already seeing an impact on their academic readiness and success, and we decided to take action. By partnering with peer-tutoring platform Knack, the TRTF Tutor Program aims to be the largest community of retired teacher tutors in Texas and the U.S.”

The Foundation’s tutoring service will engage retired Tex­as public school teachers who have the experience, time, and dependability needed to en­gage with students of all ages and educational needs. Retired teachers onboard the platform will be able to earn extra in­come to support their retire­ment and general costs of liv­ing. The average TRS monthly pension is $2,000 per month, and most Texas retired teachers do not receive Social Security benefits.

The Texas Retired Teach­ers Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to helping active and retired educators with their fi­nancial needs. The TRTF offers three programs to assist educa­tors, and designates more than $25,000 per year towards pub­lic education.

School students using the platform will receive the edu­cational support they need as they adapt to virtual learning environments that have quick­ly become the primary mode of education for most Texas families; and parents gain ac­cess to reduced cost, reliable tutoring services focused on empowering students to suc­ceed. As part of the program launch, TRTF is currently un­dertaking an ambitious $10 million fundraising effort to donate 250,000 hours of tutor­ing to Texas schools.

“These are unprecedented times,” Lee said. “We have a re­sponsibility to think bigger and do more than ever. Just imagine the difference we can make to­gether by connecting thousands of Texas retired teachers with our students and schools. TRTF is also calling on all interested TRS retirees to consider being a tutor on the platform. Our be­lief is that demand will be very high, and we want to rise up and meet the challenge.”

To learn more and sign-up for the program, visit www.trtf.org.

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From Staff Reports • [email protected]