Tom Curtis: Letter to RTAs; Speaking to your Association
Hello RTA Officers & Members,
My name is Tom Curtis. I am an STRS disability retiree with 27 years of service, having retired from Plain Local Schools in Canton, Ohio in 1998. You may already be aware that I have been actively involved since early 2003 in helping Dennis Leone and John Lazares in their attempts to bring about reform at STRS.
By mid 2003, a group of retirees and actives who had begun attending the monthly STRS board meetings banded together to protest the STRS’ blatant and unchecked abuse of our funds. We started by corresponding with one another by email. This quickly mushroomed, and that October a group of dissatisfied STRS members got together in Westerville and organized to put an end to these spending practices.
Concerned Ohio Retired Educators (CORE) grew out of this grass roots effort. We looked to Dennis Leone and John Lazares to provide the initial leadership for us, and they have been doing so ever since. With a lot of help from CORE, both are now on the STRS board, continuing their efforts to restore decency and bring badly needed reform to STRS.
CORE members endorsed Dennis Leone’s position paper, STRS Organizational Matters and Spending Practices, which he presented to the Board on May 16, 2003. Dr. Leone wrote it after conducting an extensive investigation, with John Lazares, into STRS’ management and spending practices, uncovering untold numbers of shocking abuses that had been taking place with the full knowledge and blessing of the Retirement Board. After repeated, futile efforts on his part to get answers to his questions from the STRS Board, Dr. Leone sent his report to superintendents and principals all over the state. In the outrage that followed, someone took it to the press, and that was the beginning of a great deal of publicity since. Anyone who has not read this document should, along with another document Dr. Leone prepared and presented to the board on August 8th 2003, Restoring Faith, Trust and Confidence in the STRS.
It has taken CORE members three years of attending the STRS monthly Board meetings to realize the true magnitude of the operation of the STRS and to come to some basic understanding of what has taken place with the funds educators have paid into the STRS since 1920.
I am a CORE Advisory Committee member. This does not in any way indicate that what I write or say is the consensus of CORE; it is usually my own opinion, unless otherwise noted. CORE has no officers, constitution or by-laws. CORE has been criticized for this, but we have found we have been fairly effective with this approach and continue to operate in this manner. However, I receive support for much of what I write and say from the CORE membership. Do all agree? No. Do I always get it right? No. Do I keep on trying to better understand the dynamics of the STRS? Absolutely! Have I been both applauded and criticized for things I have written? Absolutely. Have I given this my full attention? Ask my wife, she will tell you the amount of time and out-of-pocket money I have spent supporting this cause.
I am writing you today to let you know that I am available and willing to speak to your RTA or other organization about the current situation and status of the STRS, as I see it. I feel compelled to educate everyone I can about the abuse of our funds, which could disappear in a heartbeat of the stock market. You are no doubt aware that many of our health care benefits and subsidies disappeared in 2004 because of the last huge market downturn in 2001-2002.
You may contact me by email, phone or snail mail. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope to visit your organization this year.
Sincerely,
posted by Kathie Bracy at 1:46 PM
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