AUSTIN, Texas — Proposition 9 is on the November ballot, and if passed, would help retired teachers' monthly pay by giving those in the Teacher Retirement System cost-of-living adjustments.
Joe Ramirez loves being an educator.
"I spent 28 years in the classroom," said Ramirez.
In those years he's gotten a lot of awards and taught thousands of students.
"I taught President Bush's daughters," said Ramirez.
A lot has changed since Ramirez retired just over a decade ago, like how much he has to make his retirement money stretch.
"So a lot of us tend to live month to month on this pension," said Ramirez.
Ramirez and his team at Austin Retired Teachers Association hope Texans vote to approve state Proposition 9 during this November election. Ramirez said it's a cost-of-living adjustment that'll increase retired teachers' monthly checks by 2% to 6% depending on when they retired.
"If this passes, hey, that's one more medication I can pay off," said Ramirez. "That's an extra bag of groceries I can buy each month."
In this economy, every bit counts.
"Since retirement, my rent has doubled," said Ramirez. "That does not include my utilities. It does not include food bills."
He's paying $2,000 a month in rent now – the same amount he said the average retired teacher gets monthly and solely rely on as income.
"We got to realize that 95% of our public school retirees do not receive social security," Ramirez.
Ramirez said this amendment isn't just for retired teachers but includes classified staff like custodians, bus drivers and more.
"It's not another tax," said Ramirez.
That's something he wanted to make clear, the $5 billion to fund this is coming from the state's surplus budget. So far, no big political group has come out against Prop 9.
Ramirez hopes the work he put in during his career will continue to keep him afloat in this ever changing economy.