Teachers' Assoc. facing financial mess

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Indiana State Teachers Association has appealed to a national organization in an effort to find its way out of a financial mess.

The National Education Association has temporarily taken over the state union. Thousands of teachers and their families use ISTA's health and long-term disability insurance. But because of investments that have gone south due to the economic downturn, the insurance fund is now millions of dollars in debt.

"To this point, we have never missed a payment and we have no intention of doing that," said Nathan Schnellenberger, president of the ISTA.

Schnellenberger said the ISTA called in the national teachers' union to help get the insurance trust back in order. The ISTA let its members know about the NEA takeover in an e-mail it sent out this week. 24-Hour News 8 obtained a copy of the e-mail in which the insurance trust is said to be experiencing "severe difficulties."

The e-mail also said NEA trustee Edward Sullivan "will have complete authority over the operations of ISTA."

Schnellenberger said there are some members, including himself, who are upset and disappointed about the how serious the problem has become. But the ISTA president said most of the response he's received from members to the NEA takeover has been positive.

State and federal investigators are trying to figure out whether managers of ISTA's insurance trust money did anything more than make risky investments.