I Can Get Behind This

 Ever since I was illegally fired from WCSD thirteen years ago--can it really be that long ago--I have struggled to try and keep my head above the water financially.  I am still in the field of education, but I have had to make do with classified work, which is far less pay and provides a far smaller pension than if I had gotten a teaching position.  Worse still is that it is part time.   I will not substitute instead of doing what I am doing now because the vendor, which is not the school district or the ESD, does not pay into PERS.  This is a deal breaker for me at my age, 66.  It doesn't matter how much a substitute assignment pays, for the retirement is the reason I am still in the labor force.   I want to be able to increase my PERS benefit and Social Security, but I know one thing.  I will not be able to do what is being asked  of me anymore.  I just can't hack it with physical labor anymore.  There is too much standing and bending with the increased hours, and there are people who are far younger than I am who are not doing any of the playground or cafeteria labor.  Today was the first day schools in my school district reopened.  I volunteered to work more hours a week--28.75--but with Wednesdays off until the end of the year.  This might be a mistake.   I think for the first time in my life, I finally feel "old," and it is a horrible feeling. 

This is coming from somebody who has been physically active all her life, but having sciatica and scoliosis are finally taking a toll.  Since I am unable to retire in the foreseeable future, I am going to have to find something else.  I would have tried for a teaching position this year even with age discrimination rampant in education, but COVID got in the way.  I am going to try my damnedest to find another job, if not MSD, then a nearby district.  

Anyway, because I have been strapped financially, I still owe on student loans I took twenty years ago so I could student teach in Washoe County.  I have not been able to pay on any of it since I was fired.  I used up all the forbearances and deferments, and now I am on an income-based repayment plan.    Even though I am in an at-risk school, I am not eligible for loan forgiveness because I am a part timer and classified.  The forgiveness is ONLY for full time employees.  It's really fucked up.  If I stay on the income-based repayment plan, it will be done when I am 85 years old, if I live that long.  

This segues into what Joe Biden is proposing about loan forgiveness.  He is under the impression he can't propose a big amount legally, so he has been steadfast about limiting the forgiveness to 10 grand, which would be huge for me, but a drop in the bucket for other people.  However, according to this video shared on Twitter, he can legally cancel more debt:

Q: Does President @JoeBiden have the authority to cancel student debt with the stroke of a pen?

A: yes. pic.twitter.com/219bHyFbPo

— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) February 17, 2021

He doesn't need Congressional approval, either. I can get behind this.   I can't work indefinitely, let alone make enough to make headway on decades-old debt.  My body is not going to be able to take it much longer if I can't get less physically demanding work.