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About Us

Finding Inspiration in Every Turn

The Minnesota Education Association and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers merged in 1998.  The MEA had a retired organization and so did MFT, but neither group had a very strong retired organization.  Leaders from both organizations got together and worked out how to merge the retired organizations.  After two years of work, a Constitution and Bylaws was passed in March of 2000, forming Education Minnesota Retired.  For the first two years, there were two co-chairs of the organization.  Walt Munsterman was elected as the first president of Education Minnesota Retired after the final Constitution and Bylaws were adopted at the Retired’s first Annual Meeting in 2000.

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Education Minnesota Retired is a statewide organization representing retired educators from across the state. The state has been divided into eight election districts. The Governing Board conducts the business of the organization. The Governing Board consists of officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and immediate past president), two District Directors elected from each election district, two At-Large Directors, one Director representing ESP members, and one Director representing higher education. See the attached map of the election districts. 

Retired is affiliated with Education Minnesota, AFT, NEA, and the Minnesota AFL-CIO Retiree Council. 

Lois Wendt Volunteer Service Award

Lois Wendt received the very first Lois Wendt Volunteer Service award at the Third Biennial Conference of the MN State Retiree Council, AFL-CIO held on September 24, 2025. The award was named for her in recognition of her extensive volunteer work for Education Minnesota Retired, MN State Retiree Council and several other organizations. This will be awarded to other individuals at future Conventions so she will be recognized for her contributions on a regular basis.

The MN State Retiree Council is an organization comprised of union retiree organizations from across the state. Education Minnesota Retired has 9 members on the state board of directors. Eleven Education Minnesota members attended this conference.
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First Local Chapter

Locally Sourced, Organically Grown 

Recognizing the need to connect with retirees, the Burnsville Education Association (BEA), an affiliate of Education Minnesota, initiated a retired member position on its Executive Board in the late 1990’s. However, the retiree position on the board often went unfilled.  Many retirees often feel disconnected from the local union once they retire.  Having served many positions on the BEA and for Education Minnesota, we, Paul Berge and Wes Hanna, both recently retired, decided to ask the current BEA president, Wendy Drugge, to be appointed to the vacant Executive Board Retired position in June of 2015.  We aimed to organize annual events, engage
politically, conduct community outreach, address senior issues, and offer the historical perspective from retired teachers.  We were enthusiastically welcomed by Wendy and the Executive Board. Wendy took the time to meet with us, asked for our input in bargaining issues, and offered to support our organizing initiatives.

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National Representatives

Education Minnesota Retired members are representing our state at the national level. Several members spend time with the NEA and AFT working on behalf of our state organization and our members.  Reports from these individuals are included here.
 
NEA-Board of Directors:  Judy Rohde
NEA-Fund for Children and Public Education: Jayne Schwalbach
NEA-Retired Legislative Committee: Joan Beaver
NEA-Retired Communications Committee: Myrna Doran
NEA-Retired Social Justice Commitee: Julie Jagusch
AFT Retired Program and Policy Council: Walt Munsterman
 
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