NOTE: To find the most current posts, please scroll down to the two big red arrows. You can't miss them.

STRS Ohio Watchdogs: a public Facebook group you can join

STRS OHIO WATCHDOGS

by Cindy Murphy

STRS Ohio Watchdogs monitor the management and investment practices of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.

We advocate for prudent and transparent investments, the restoration of the COLA for retired teachers, and the rollback of additional years of service required for active teachers.

This site will provide you with information about the work that is being done by Ohio's active and retired teachers to preserve our retirement benefits. Check back often for updates.

Join our conversation on Facebook. You don't have to be a member of STRS Ohio to join. Everyone who is interested in learning more about the management and investment practices of STRS Ohio is welcome.

Use this link to join our pack on Facebook:.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ohiostrswatchdogs 

Have you joined the Ohio STRS Member Only Forum on Facebook?

If you are a member of STRS Ohio and have a Facebook account, you are eligible to join thousands of others who make up the Ohio STRS Member Only Forum. This is a closed group of retirees and actives who are advocating for the return of our COLA, which, as you no doubt know, your STRS Board SUSPENDED on April 20, 2017. Two of our members, Bob Buerkle and Dean Dennis, filed a class action lawsuit against STRS on May 23, 2019 suing for the reinstatement of our COLA. The text of the lawsuit can be found on this blog. You can go here to join the Forum and sign the petition, already signed by more than 20,000 people, for the return of our COLA: Ohio STRS Member Only Forum

Click image to enlarge

Angel of Grief

Garrison Keillor

Items of interest in the Archives: The 2013 STRS Board Election

Many people have been very interested in reading about the irregularities of the 2013 STRS board election. There are many posts related to this topic, beginning the first week of April 2013, after the ballots were mailed to retirees from STRS. You can find them by going to the Archives for this blog, over in the right sidebar, and clicking on dates beginning with April 7, 2013. Dennis Leone announced his candidacy for a retired seat in November, 2012. There is a lot of information about him in the Archives, beginning with November 12, 2012 posts. If you want to read only the best stuff about that infamous election of 2013, go over to the sidebar on the right of where you are now, which is the archives of previous articles on this blog. Scroll down to April 2013. That's where the "interesting" articles begin. You will see many, clear up to the middle of May 2013.5/28/13

.....so what REALLY happened in 2003 that touched off a firestorm at STRS that is still smoldering today? Read it here, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. (Hint: It ain't over yet!)

More here (Akron Beacon Journal, 2003)

A MUST READ: Dennis Leone Reform Initiatives as an STRS Board Member  Between 2005 and 2009

To find current, day-to-day posts -- pull your scroll bar down a ways, just below the big red arrows (you can't miss them). Thanks.

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Find your state representative and senator here.

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/

I know, it's weird.........

Many posts that appear "at the top" for a while are eventually moved down, where they can be found under their original posting dates. Also, if you are confused by the postdating, this is done to keep these posts up there; otherwise, they drift down when new posts are added. It's a "blog thing" which I have no other way to control. KB

Handy links: Contacts, information and more (short version)
This is an abbreviated version of the original 'Handy links' post. Click here to view a more complete list. (Some of it is old.)

STRS Board.....STRS website

Board calendar

E-mail contacts at STRS (old, but some may still work)

Map/directions to STRS, 275 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43215

STRS "Membership Survey" (spoof)
State legislators.......State of Ohio website

Latest OEA salaries (2011) over 100K; USDL report

Rich DeColibus' PowerPoint presentation STRS' PBI Program; Does it work?: click December 21, 2008 (blog Archive) and scroll down to December 23 posts.

Charts: PBI (bonus) payments

Popular links; click, then scroll down: charts, graphs, investment staff, lists, spreadsheets

$TR$ Inve$tment $taff $$$ (old)

SPECIAL (must read):

Dennis Leone's INVESTIGATIVE REPORT on STRS: May 16, 2003...Who is Dennis Leone?........(PDF version)...More on Dennis Leone .......(PDF version)

Dennis Leone: "Catcher of Thieves"

Dennis Leone's STRS Report to ORTA, March 2007

Dennis Leone's Testimony at the Statehouse 9/5/12
The Plain Dealer article that started it all

Dennis Leone: Factors Driving STRS 30-Year Planning and Revenue Assumptions (with charts)

Historic PBI vote, January 16, 2009

Charts: PBI (bonus) payments

CURRENT POSTS BELOW

Bob Buerkle exposes the egregious damage done to the STRS pension system and all of its stakeholders by the STRS "big four" management team and STRS actuaries, yet hidden from ALL OF US for YEARS!

Bob Buerkle's Speech to STRS Board

March 19, 2025

Robin Beebe and an updated version of Mother Goose nursery rhymes for the STRS board March 19, 2025

Robin Beebe's speech to STRS board

March 19, 2025

My name is Robin Beebe. Retired teacher of mainly 4th Graders, 2nd Graders, Kindergarteners, a smattering of other elementary grades, and eight summers of Migrant Education. 35 years. Fremont City Schools and Perrysburg Schools. Retired coming up on 16 years. Please start the 3 minute timer now.

My speech has only ONE focus today. Please pay close attention. The loss of my 3% COLAs that were supposed to be paid in accordance with the LAWS IN EFFECT at the time of my retirement amount to a total of $119,242.56 and counting.... So, I have been musing once again on how many ways I can make my concern heard and the right thing be done to correct it?

Well, I have the privilege and great joy of taking care of our 3-year-old grandson three days a week and being a part of his world while his attorney parents work. Being well versed in nursery rhymes currently, let me share some that I have taken the liberty to "update". I title this "The 3% COLA ANTHOLOGY of NURSERY RHYMES: A VERY ABRIDGED VERSION". My apologies to Mother Goose

Twinkle, twinkle little 3% COLA

How we wonder where you are.

Up above the world and gone

Out of sight for you we long.

 

Twinkle, twinkle little 3% COLA

How we wonder where you are.

Row, row, row our 3% COLA

Gently back in place.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Restoration is the perfect case.

 

Little Retiree Muffet

Sat on a tuffet

Looking for the COLA gone astray.

Along came the reinstated 3% COLA

Sat down by that tuffet

And Little Retiree Muffet shouted "HOORAY!"

 

The Itsy, Bitsy 3% COLA climbed up and out of sight.

Down came good news and the 3% COLA came back out.

Out came the reform Board and cleared up all the mess

And the Itsy, Bitsy 3% COLA really is the BEST!

Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake

Board members all.

Send us a 3% COLA

Just get on the ball.

Reinstate it, vote on it, and mark it for all to see.

And send out our retirement checks.

What justice that will be!

One, two, what are retirees to do?

Three, four, we all are getting poor.

Five, six, why were we so tricked?

Seven, eight, the Board is very late.

Nine, ten, give us our 3% COLA again!

It being March and just after St. Patrick's Day, I want to close with an old Irish Blessing for all of us in this room.

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, 

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

 

Robin Rayfield fills in the blanks for the STRS board about the "staff-induced chaos" and more

Robin Rayfield's speech to STRS board

March 19, 2025

Good morning,

My name is Dr. Robin Rayfield, and I am the Executive Director of the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association and a STRS member.

First, I want to bring to your attention a significant development in the case brought by Attorney General Dave Yost against Mr. Steen and Dr. Fichtenbaum. After an almost year-long investigation, yesterday marked the deadline for Attorney General Yost to present evidence of “back door ties” between Steen, Fichtenbaum, and QED. However, Attorney General Yost failed to deliver any such evidence and abruptly ceased alleging that Steen and Fichtenbaum had received any money from QED, had any interest in QED, or had been promised anything by QED.

Media reports state Attorney General Yost’s suit against Steen and Fichtenbaum originated from information provided by STRS staff.

It is perplexing why certain STRS staff members are not held accountable for their actions that undermine the board’s integrity. Over the past two years, I have witnessed three examples of staff-induced chaos:

1. The STRS general counsel falsely informed this board that Governor Dewine’s removal of Wade Steen was legal, which was not the case.

2. STRS staff facilitated the illegal adjournment of a public meeting immediately after Wade Steen’s return to the board.

3. STRS staff hand-delivered a 14-page letter accusing Steen and Fichtenbaum of being bribed by QED, which was entirely false.

Second, I listened to the presentations yesterday. My takeaway is that the alts portfolio out performs STRS total return. This is irrelevant as the comparison should be against a passive index.

Surprisingly, this comparison was absent from yesterday’s materials, so I took it upon myself to compare the long-term returns of STRS’s alternative investments to the Russell 3000 Index. Not surprisingly, STRS’s alternative investments portfolio is being outperformed by the Russell 3000 by BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Finally, ask that the board draft and pass a resolution supporting Fichtenbaum and Steen in the AG case and staff publicly apologize to Steen and Fichtenbaum for insinuating that they were corrupt. If STRS wants to restore trust with stakeholders, it must begin by telling the whole truth, holding people accountable, and taking action. A couple of suggested actions would be to offer verbal support for Steen and Fichtenbaum and financial support for their legal expenses brought about as a result of staff actions.

Four elephants in the room: Dean Dennis tackles them all

Dean Dennis' speech to STRS board

March 19, 2025

More chaos at STRS as lawmakers again threaten to remove teachers' pension board voting powers

https://www.orta.org/post/ohio-lawmakers-may-remove-teachers-pension-board-voting-powers-as-chaos-continues 

ORTA Staff
March 17, 2025 

Ohio lawmakers may remove teachers' pension board voting powers as chaos continues

The following article from the media is yet another one-sided attempt to maintain the current management of the $90 billion in the STRS pension fund that has reduced promised benefits to the hundreds of thousands of public educators in Ohio. This reporter has repeatedly written articles critical of the ‘reform minded STRS board members’ efforts to bring transparency to the investment practices of STRS. These practices have resulted in draconian reductions to promised benefits of hundreds of thousands of retired educators in Ohio.

When challenged with the transparency issues by its members STRS has ignored the concerns of its members and continued the opaque investment practices. By ignoring its membership, the status quo board members have been replaced through the democratic process with reformers winning the last six elections. Now the media, and elected officials in Ohio have joined forces again to thwart the democratic process through threats to remove duly elected teachers from the STRS board.

Because the majority of board members have done their fiduciary duty and have asked questions about the alternative investment program, the elected leaders in Ohio have threatened to change the make up of the pension board. For over one hundred years teachers have had a majority of the seats on the STRS board. For over one hundred years these elected members have bent to the will of Wall St. and the politicians that are on the payroll of Wall St. Now that a few brave souls have asked too many questions, these people are in danger of having their voices silenced. With the media firmly in lockstep with maintaining the status quo much of the reporting must be taken with a grain of salt.

Although the most recent article does not provide any added information, and simply re-hashes what has already been reported, in the interest of providing any information to our members ORTA is providing this on our website.

Dr. Robin Rayfield, Executive Director

Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association

Read Morgan Trau's article at https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/politics/ohio-politics/ohio-lawmakers-may-remove-teachers-pension-board-voting-powers-as-chaos-continues 

Watch the story on News 5 Cleveland on ORTA's website:

https://www.orta.org/post/ohio-lawmakers-may-remove-teachers-pension-board-voting-powers-as-chaos-continues 

Best candidates for 2025 STRS board election!

 

 

Robin Beebe's Magic 8 Ball and some insights for the STRS board

Robin Beebe's speech to STRS board

February 20, 2025

My name is Robin Beebe. Retired teacher of mainly 4th Graders, 2nd Graders, Kindergartners, a smattering of other elementary grades and eight summers of Migrant Education. 35 years. Fremont City Schools and Perrysburg Schools. Retired coming up on 16 years. Please start the 3 minute timer now.

I sit at STRS Board Meetings and listen for hours and hours on end to actuaries and consultants maintain that if you do X,Y and Z, things MAY or MAY NOT pan out. They have mentioned multiple times that when all is said and done, they "DON'T HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL". So....if projections don't work out, oh well..., just read just that formula and timeline and extend into future years and decades. Hmmmm....."No Crystal Ball", eh????

Well, I don't have a crystal ball either. BUT, I did bring my Magic 8 Ball. (Hold it up for all to see.)  You all likely remember this and possibly even had one? I shall ask the Magic 8 Ball questions on behalf of active and retired teachers. They are MY PEOPLE. They are MY TRIBE. Shall we give it a try?

* 1. Will risky hedge funds/private equity/alts be replaced by responsible index funds?

        Magic 8 Ball says - CANNOT FORETELL NOW

* 2. Should the cafeteria become profitable or be shut down?
                LOOKS LIKE YES

* 3. Will the TAJ and out of state real estate holdings be sold?
                DON'T BET ON IT

* 4. Should the Communications Department stop spending our money to monitor/spy on us 24/7 on social media sites?
                YOU CAN COUNT ON IT

* 5. Should the costly Town Hall Dog & Pony Show Propaganda Meetings stop?
                POSITIVELY  (Stop Playing Us For Fools!!!)

* 6. Should STRS Staff levels be majorly reduced?
                VERY LIKELY

* 7. Should the Performance Based Incentives, i.e., Bonuses be given?
                THE STARS SAY NO

* 8. Should the ORSC 2021 RESOLUTION be revoked and thus return the rightful control to this Board?
                ABSOLUTELY

(Remember Glinda the Good Witch's advice to Dorothy in "The
Wizard of Oz". "You've always had the power my dear, you just had to
Learn it for yourself.” NOW is the time to use your power.)

*9. Is restoration of the 3% COLA the right thing to do?
                NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

P.S.  My 3% COLA was supposed to be paid in accordance with the LAWS in effect at the time of my retirement. No switcheroo nor taken away midstream. As for This current 2025 year with a 0% COLA, I am being denied $18,010.72. And my Grand total of denied full 3% COLA’s to date since retiring will be $119,242.56 and counting……HOLY………TOLEDO!!!

P.P.S.  You, our STRS Board, have a monumental task before you to pick a skilled Executive Director. Please, please choose the very best competent person, One with expertise, true integrity, honesty and a good heart to help us. Thank you.

Recent court documents you need to read to get the true picture of the gross injustice inflicted on two leading STRS board members; namely former board member Wade Steen and current board chairman, Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum; they have been our strongest advocates

ORTA Staff

February 7, 2025

From the ORTA Blog:

Wade Steen: Recent court documents

Recent court documents in

•  State of Ohio v. Wade Steen and Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum (CASE NO. 24CV003862)
•  Wade Steen v. G. Brent Bishop, et al (CASE NO. 23AP000351)
•  State of Ohio v. Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum (CASE NO. 24 CV 003862)

Link to the documents on the ORTA website; they may be downloaded and viewed anytime: 

https://www.orta.org/post/wade-steen-recent-court-documents

~     ~     ~     ~     ~

STRS Ohio Board member Rudy Fichtenbaum, and former Board member Wade Steen, are incurring legal fees, defending themselves against the lawsuit brought against them by A.G. Dave Yost. ORTA will use donations from the Pension Defense Fund to help them, if needed, pay their legal expenses. They have volunteered their time to support Ohio's teachers. Now it's time for us to show our support for them! Make a donation today to the ORTA Pension Defense Fund

Remember the day?

That memorable STRS board meeting (or was it a circus?) April 18, 2024

That was the day Wade Steen won his year-long lawsuit against Governor DeWine, who had suddenly and illegally pulled him from his position on the STRS board the previous year. On April 18, 2024, Wade came straight from the court house to STRS, followed by his attorney, Norman Abood, waving his court papers proving he had just been legally reinstated to his seat on the STRS board. The board was meeting in executive session when Wade entered and presented his papers to the board chair, Dale Price, announcing his reinstatement, effective immediately. 

I was privileged to be selected by Wade to be sworn in at the public meeting shortly afterwards that day. Much confusion followed, as the board chair, who attempted to prevent the swearing-in ceremony, was not prepared for such a turn of events, and walked out, not even formally closing the meeting. That in itself caused quite a bit of chaos, especially since there were important matters on the agenda that had not been addressed. There were, however, many very happy active and retired teachers that day. 

Since Wade's four-year term officially ended September 27, 2024, he was not with us very long, but we are hoping that will not be the last we see of him. Wade Steen and Rudy Fichtenbaum have been two of the strongest board members ever (Rudy is still with us as board chairman). That was until the attorney general, Dave Yost, a friend of the governor's, also stepped in quickly, following the governor's shenanigans, and filed a frivolous lawsuit against both men. That's another story for another part of this blog. Here's a photo of yours truly, Kathie Bracy, conducting the swearing-in ceremony for Wade Steen:

Ohio Republicans start the year by throwing public education under the school bus

Commentary

Ohio Republicans start the year by throwing public education under the school bus

  

Marilou Johanek

 

Ohio Capital Journal 

January 14, 2025

It didn’t take long. The new legislative session began in Columbus with Republican chieftains in the state throwing the future of public education in Ohio under the school bus.

First it was the billion-dollar voucher king, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, to hedge his bets on giving Ohio’s 611 school districts what they need to provide a quality education to the 1.7 million students they serve.

Then it was Huffman’s patsy in the executive branch, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who added his two cents worth of wishy-washy about how a leaner state budget ahead means something’s gotta give — like fully funding the education system used by the vast majority of Ohio families and their children. “Sometimes these are very, very difficult, difficult choices,” said the gutless wonder. What leadership.

Educating future generations of Ohioans with high-quality public schools is your job, governor. It’s the No. 1 responsibility of the state to ensure a thorough and efficient system of funding for public schools. ‘Says so right in the Ohio Constitution. It also says, “no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, control of, any part of the school funds of this state.” But DeWine and his puppet master in the Ohio House ignored that part years ago when the state began diverting hundreds of millions of education funds to private and mostly religious schools.

Clearly, the politicians calling the shots in state government have no regard for the state constitution. Adhering to the rule of law is optional when political power is absolute. Huffman, who thumbed his nose at the Ohio Constitution on fair redistricting (to pull off even more egregious gerrymandering in legislative and congressional districts) is doing the same thing on adequately funding public education.

He’s looking to cut revenue to public schools while spending a ton of tax dollars on private school vouchers — with aspirations to fund more private school facilities to increase demand for those vouchers. Call it the Great GOP Phase-out of Public Education. Last week, Huffman dropped a calculated bombshell to prepare Ohio’s public-school districts for another financial hit from the state.

The Lima Republican said the state couldn’t afford to fully fund public schools or finally fix a school funding formula ruled unconstitutional nearly three decades ago. The Ohio Supreme Court’s 1997 ruling said the state’s failure to provide and distribute sufficient resources for public education and its over-reliance on local property taxes to cover that shortcoming violated the law.

Yet Ohio lawmakers never remedied the problem. School districts had to keep going back to voters just to maintain and operate local schools. Homeowners carried the weight of school funding, not the state. They were/are understandably tapped out on school levies, especially as changes in property evaluations jack up tax bills.

But in 2021, after years of collaboration between former Republican Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp, former Democratic state Rep. John Patterson and scores of public education stakeholders, Ohio came close to meeting its constitutional obligation of ensuring a thorough and efficient system of funding for public schools. “What we really wanted to do was figure out what it really costs to educate a student and then what a district can really do to support its fair share, and then the state would compensate with the rest,” said Patterson.

The Cupp-Patterson spending formula, known as the Fair School Funding Plan, was enacted as part of the 2021-23 state budget. The new system weighed a district’s expenses to come up with the base per-pupil funding amount — instead of a blanket amount of state funding for all schools — and changed the way the local community’s share was measured depending on property tax value and the income of local residents.

That was a big deal and a significant step forward to address the long-running inequities of an unconstitutional school funding system that had failed generations of K-12 students. The quality of their education often depended on where they lived. Wealthy school districts in Ohio had every advantage over high poverty districts that struggled to pay for even basics in the classroom.

The Fair School Funding Plan initiated a level of fairness and reliability in state support that past spending programs lacked. Complete state funding of the FSFP (around $2 billion altogether) was to be phased in over a six-year period through two-year budget cycles. The goal was to continue expanding state funding for districts in successive biennial state budgets until the Fair School Funding Plan was fully funded.

The last installation, or third phase, was to be paid in full in the upcoming 2026-2027 operating budget. But that expectation hit a wall when Huffman nixed increased spending to public schools as “unsustainable.”

His excuses for not making good on fully funding Cupp-Patterson — less state revenue to work with, less federal pandemic relief money, more scrutiny needed for school money already allocate — don’t apply to his expansive voucher outlays to religious schools that reached $966.2 million for the 2023-2024 school year. Enough to fully fund Fair School Funding Plan.

But Huffman is laying the ground to shave more off the FSFP and showing his utter indifference to the acute financial challenges facing countless districts. Tough luck for the nearly 90% of Ohio students who attend public schools with slashed opportunities. It didn’t take long.

Read this article online here.