Published 07/24/2003 News-Herald.com, serving Northeast Ohio District ties in question by Roger Doan, Correspondent Township man wonders why STRS board member is considered teacher for Perry Schools A Perry Township resident is questioning the propriety of contractual ties between the Perry School District and a member of the Ohio State Teachers' Retirement System Board.
Russell C. Pletcher of Mill Pond Circle is asking the district to explain its relationship with recently elected STRS board member Michael Billirakis in light of news reports concerning mishandling of the state teachers' retirement fund money.
Billirakis is listed as an active teacher and employee of the Perry School District. His salary is paid by the National Education Association, a teachers' union that works closely with the Ohio Education Association.
"From the reports in the papers, it appears to me that the (STRS) board is quite arrogant in its consideration of the retirement money as theirs, as opposed to the teachers who serve our students," Pletcher said.
"I have to wonder if we aren't fostering that arrogant attitude by putting someone on contract that really isn't a day-to-day teacher."
Pletcher said Billirakis' campaign literature, in his run for the STRS board position he won in May with 19,945 votes, claimed he works for the Perry School District.
"Isn't it rather misleading when he runs for a position on a board representing teachers, and he really isn't a classroom teacher here?" Pletcher asked at a school board meeting Tuesday.
Members of the Ohio STRS voted in the election.
In response, Perry District Superintendent Timothy Berkey acknowledged Billirakis is not actively employed in the district.
But Berkey defended the decision to authorize the Billirakis teaching contract on the basis of Billirakis' ability to influence federal legislation on the district's behalf.
"Mr. Billirakis is technically an employee of the district, but his salary is paid by the National Education Association, and not by the STRS," Berkey said.
"His work is really out of Washington, D.C., and it is of no cost at all to the district. His work on the STRS board is separate, and not at all a part of that."
State legislators recently criticized the STRS board leadership.
That was after news reports retirement fund overseers had given $16.1 million in bonuses to employees since August 2000 and spent $869,000 on artwork to decorate the board's offices.
This came during a period in which the fund's assets declined by $12.3 billion. Teachers in Ohio contribute as much as 10 percent of their salaries in order to obtain retirement benefits.
Rick C. Amos, a Perry School Board member, compared the Billirakis contract situation to candidates for other political offices who reference institutional ties to inflate their resumes.
"It's like the guy running for president of the truckers' union who hasn't driven a truck in years," Amos said.
"There are a lot of people in the teachers' union who are active in leadership positions, and who haven't taught for years, but are required to have some status as a teacher.
"We got caught up in it because (Billirakis) needed a place to call his home. We felt it would be advantageous to have some ties to someone who could maybe make a strong case for us where we might need it someday."
Noting that Billirakis had been employed for years by school districts in southern Ohio, Pletcher asked why Billirakis did not maintain his ties to those districts.
"I'm sure there was some financial advantage for him to do that," Amos said. "But from our perspective, it will be the people who pay his salary in Washington who will deal with that."
Unsatisfied with the board's explanations, Pletcher said after the meeting that he still thinks Billirakis obtained union votes by sham, because STRS rules require up to five positions on the board be filled by active teachers.
"There have been other school districts in Ohio that have been asked to do these 'pass-through' salary contracts, but have declined," Pletcher said.
"I don't see why, as Rick Amos said, Mr. Billirakis needed to be given a home in Perry." |
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