AUGUSTA – Teachers are “demoralized and downtrodden” by proposals for major changes to their retirement and health benefits, Grace Leavitt testified Friday.

“I have never felt so utterly discouraged about being a teacher,” she told the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. “I have never seen so many of my colleagues feel so demoralized and downtrodden.”

Leavitt, who teaches Spanish in Cumberland and lives in Raymond, was one of about 100 people who testified on Gov. Paul LePage’s $6.1 billion budget proposal for the two years starting July 1. While a few said they were neither for nor against the bill, the vast majority opposed the changes.

It was the fifth day of public hearings on the budget, and the third consecutive day of big crowds at the Capitol.

“This isn’t voodoo language,” said Crystal Ward, a retired Lewiston High School government teacher. “This isn’t fuzzy vocabulary. It is the mother of all cost-shifting schemes. Call it what it is.”

The budget calls for current and future teachers to increase their contribution to the state retirement system from 7.65 to 9.65 percent of their salaries. That would correspond with a decrease in the state contribution from 5 percent to 3.4 percent.

The budget would increase the retirement age from 62 to 65 for those with fewer than five years of service, and freeze cost-of-living increases for three years and cap them at 2 percent after that.

It would require teachers who retire after July 1 to have 10 years of service — rather than five — to qualify for the state to pay 45 percent of the cost of their health insurance. Those retirees would not be eligible for the state contributions toward their health insurance until they turn 65.

LePage released a statement Friday afternoon that said he is working on plans to pay the best teachers more.

“Taxpayers do not have any more to give and reforms are needed to keep the checks coming for the retired teachers who are counting on a state pension,” LePage said in the statement. “I know some teachers and retirees are struggling, but we need honest and shared solutions to solve our pension problem.”

Teachers and groups that represent superintendents, principals and school boards raised several objections to the budget proposal, including the idea that it’s not good education policy to force teachers to stay in the profession until they are 65.

“Frankly, and with all due respect, this will require some teachers and administrators to continue to work with children after they have lost their energy, desire and effectiveness,” said Dick Durost, executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association.

Also, educators said, the 2 percent increase in teachers’ contribution to the retirement system would mean that school districts would be asked to raise teachers’ pay by 2 percent. That would end up costing local property taxpayers more money, said Roger Shaw, president of the Maine School Superintendents Association.

Consistent with testimony earlier this week, many of the budget’s opponents spoke about broken promises.

Diana Leighton, a math teacher at Belfast Area High School who has taught for 31 years, described teaching as “a very demanding profession.”

“Many of us have dedicated our lives to this profession and our students and deserve the retirement we have been promised,” she said.

Legislators asked several questions at the start of the hearing as they began to get a better picture of what the budget would do.

Sawin Millett, commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, explained that the administration is trying to address two issues with the retirement system: the increasing short-term cost to the state and its long-term unfunded liability.

Part of the proposal would shift money from the retirement system to help pay for other state budget priorities. Earlier, Millett said $203 million in tax cuts would be paid for by changes to the retirement system.

Also, LePage is concerned about how the state will pay off its $4.4 billion unfunded liability by 2028, which is mandated by the state Constitution.

The unfunded liability was created by several factors, Millett said, including allowing teachers to join the system back in the 1940s with no assets to cover the cost; expanding benefits in the 1960s and 1970s without paying for them; and significant losses to the system in 2008 because of the stock market’s downturn

Rep. David Webster, D-Freeport, said he wanted to make it clear to retirees that the fund is solvent. “I don’t think we need to cause concern for retirees that we’re in a crisis,” he said.

Millett agreed that the fund is solvent, but cautioned against taking a short-term view of the problem. As the state nears the 2028 deadline, he said, payments to the system will crowd out other needs if no structural changes are made.

Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, said he has concerns that teachers and state workers are being asked to pay an unfair share of the costs in the budget. Fredette’s wife is a teacher.

“I think teachers play a special role for kids in Maine,” he said. “There always has to be the question of fairness. Who pays and who gets what.”

MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at: scover@mainetoday.com