The Montebello Teachers Association (MTA) has long touted its Retirement Supplemental Health Plan — known as “The Trust Fund” — as a point of pride.
It has been called the only benefit of its kind in the entire state of California.
The Trust Fund was established in 1987 to provide post-retirement medical care for eligible Montebello Unified School District employees who are members of the MTA. It was designed to continue retiree medical coverage beyond the age at which the district stops paying for coverage, typically at age 67.
This was a benefit that assured teachers their union not only cared about its active members but that it would take care of retirees, too.
Both active and retired members contributed monthly to the fund. Full-time teachers paid local dues, adding up to a hefty $424.90 in monthly union dues.
The Trust Fund’s most recent tax filing from 2024 reported assets of approximately $17 million. Despite these, the fund has been operating at a loss, with expenses exceeding revenue in recent years.
The Trust Fund reported revenue of $2.9 million with expenditures of $4 million, or a net loss of $1.1 million, for the fiscal year ending in 2023.
But now the Trust Fund has recently experienced a sudden and unexplained halt in funding. The abrupt freeze of this trust fund has left many teachers and retirees with a looming question: How can teachers trust it?
There has been no transparent explanation from the MTA about what led to the freeze. No warning. No plan. Just silence, confusion, and growing anxiety among those who counted on this benefit to carry them through their later years.
The reasons behind this sudden freeze remain unclear. As of now, retirees are left seeking answers and support, hoping for a resolution that will restore the health benefits they paid into and were promised upon retirement.
If this is the flagship benefit MTA is proudest of — the one it claims no other district in California can match —its current failure is not just a financial one.
It’s a failure of leadership, communication and trust union leadership and the Trust Fund Committee must address with its members.
As a teacher, I would be outraged if I had entrusted $300 a month toward a promised future benefit only to see it mishandled. The teachers of the Montebello Teachers Association deserve full transparency and an immediate, thorough audit.
How did this happen? Where is the money? Union leaders must be held accountable for this gross mismanagement. This isn’t a clerical error — this is their retirement, their health, their future.
Teachers must unite, demand answers and seek legal counsel to pursue justice and restitution.
Newer or younger teachers who haven’t yet risked their hard-earned money should seriously consider opting out of a union that was supposed to protect them.
It’s not too late to make a different choice — to protect themselves and secure a better future.
