Tom Curtis to Ron Catron: False promises from OEA and wasteful practices at STRS

From Tom Curtis
December 26, 2005

Hello Ron Catron,

Thank you for your very supportive response. As you would know, your comments are greatly appreciated and I hope I will receive many more. This is exactly what I hope others will do. Whether they agree or disagree with what I write. CORE and I need to know that the membership understands that we are not just a few disgruntled retirees or malcontents. This is what the leadership of the STRS, OEA & ORTA would have the membership believe. We are not just a group of STRS members with nothing better to do.

No, we are all involved and dedicated to reforming the STRS, so it operates in accordance with the true spirit of the ORC section 3307.15. We desire a retirement system to be what we were promised it would be and to provide such for all future retirees, as well. That is our motivation and will continue to be such.

The STRS was established in 1920. It is my understanding it was established to generate the necessary funds through contributions, throughout an educator's career, to provide for a guaranteed pension.

An accompanying health care plan was also needed and was later added in 1974. This plan provided health care coverage for the retiree, their spouse and dependent children of school age, at a very reasonable cost. This reasonably cost health care plan was to continue for the remainder of the retiree and spouse's lives.

Had the former STRS board, STRS staff, the OEA and ORTA been in tune with the 3307.15 statute of the Ohio Revised Code, we would have the health care benefit we were promised throughout our careers.

We do not have that same benefit today and what is left, may well dry-up and disappear in the near future (2018), if major changes are not made and made soon.

Why has this occurred? It occurred because the organizations that we were paying dues and contributions into did not do their job. That would be the STRS, OEA, OFT, ORTA and others at the college level. These are the organizations we have supported faithfully throughout our careers and even after retirement, yet they have not supported what was promised in turn. None of these organizations have regularly been at the STRS pressing for change for the past 3 years, as has CORE. Yet, they all want you to continue supporting that dedicated flow of income they receive from educators. They have all of the money, they win, and the simple educator looses once again.

Instead of doing their jobs and securing what they promised us, most of these leaders became self-serving and totally lost sight of what their task was. Now, they tell us we are supposed to forget about that, carry on and be happy with what we do receive. I find that premise totally unbelievable and inexcusable.

Ron, as you are aware, I continue to write various articles about different issues relating to the STRS. I am simply trying to get more of our membership concerned and involved.

Thinking of issues to write about is actually quite easy. There is such a plethora of issues needing attention, concerning the wasteful operation of the STRS that I am never at a loss for something to write about.

What I am at a loss of is the time and the financial expense of continuing this process for many years now. Can the problems at the STRS be corrected, most definitely? Can it be done over night, absolutely not! Do we need more changes to the board? Absolutely!

Just what does it take to stir the interest and gain the support of the rest of the membership and begin to bring more of them into this process?

Is it only when changes made by the STRS effect them that they get involved? Why do educators not find this to be important for themselves and all future retirees?

Many STRS active and retired members have someone within their families, if not more then one, who are active teachers today? Do they contact those family members and ask for their support? I can only hope so. Is this a flaw in our teacher preparation? Why are educators not more interested in preserving our retirement system for the educators who will follow them? We have to get more of the STRS membership to understand what is at stake here.

Those of us who have rebelled against the wasteful practices, in which the STRS has functioned over the past 10-15 years, need much more support from the STRS membership. Without that support, we will have trouble continuing the reform process for many obvious reasons.

Those of us that started and have continued pressing for the reform process for the past 3-years have funded our own involvement. It is difficult to continue in the pursuit of such, when you find little support from the other 400,000 members. All STRS members have been affected by the failure of the past OEA fiduciaries on the board. They failed to bring to fruition what the OEA always promised us year after year.

The majority of us supported the OEA financially throughout our entire career, believing they were looking out for what we were being promised. That was not the case. In my opinion, the OEA has been a parasite on my back and provided me with false promises. Now that the money is gone, they want us to forget about it and get on with business as though nothing happened. We cannot continue this year after year and be successful when we are up against the money of the unions. The two teacher unions will continue to spend big bucks attempting to get their candidates elected. Both spent very excessive amounts last year in supporting such.

I have been told the OEA has spent in excess of $150,000 in advertising over the past two years, in their attempts to get their candidates elected, without a win. WOW! CORE could not compete with that kind of money for advertising. Where did that money come from? It came from the same place as always, from the active teacher. In essence, we have paid into two organizations to help guarantee health care benefits and we still do not have what we were promised. We have had NO support from the OEA in arguing for such and it still remains in question, as to whether it will be available in the not to distant future. How pitiful this all seems? Thanks again Ron for your support.

Take care,
Tom Curtis