Jim N. Reed to the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Anybody home at STRS?

From Jim N. Reed, October 22, 2008
Sent to the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
STRS Members-Anybody Home?

"How much more must be lost before we all receive letters telling us our retirement pensions are being recalculated?" A State Teachers Retirement System retiree recently posed this question in a letter on www.kathiebracy.blogspot.com. Too dramatic or a realistic consideration for all active and retired educators?

The basis for this disturbing question is the loss of $25 billion dollars in STRS assets in the past year. Many Americans have lost value in their pensions.

A more searing question is why, during these troubling retirement losses at STRS, would the board approve $6,027,249 in Performance Based Incentives (bonuses) to investment staff?

One official STRS spokesperson suggested the answer is that the bonuses are a "long-standing tradition." That is correct. Post 9-11 witnessed the board awarding millions of dollars in bonuses even though STRS membership lost $13 billion dollars while healthcare costs exploded and ethics charges resulted in the removal of six board members and an executive director.

Watchdog board member Dr. Dennis Leone, the only board member to vote against the PBIs, poses another pertinent question. "Would any teacher in America qualify for a bonus check if he/she argued that since the decline in student test scores in his/her class was less than any other classes in the building?"

Some retirees may remember the "13th check." It was withdrawn a few years ago when the board decided STRS could not afford to continue a bonus for members.

Ohio Revised Code 3307.15, which directs board members as to their duties to the membership, states"...The board and other fiduciaries shall discharge their duties with respect to the funds solely in the interest of the participants and their beneficiaries...and in defraying reasonable expenses of administering the system..." Pretty clear.

The welfare of STRS membership (not OEA or ORTA or any other organization) must be the primary fiduciary responsibility of the board.

Members must do their homework and become STRS-literate. Further information is available at www.concernedohio.org and educators can contact the STRS board at board@strs.org.

Jim N. Reed
Baltimore, Ohio