At least Mr. Nehf is on the right side of this battle!

From John Curry, September 16, 2009

Defined-benefit plans have been reliable

Columbus Dispatch, September 16, 2009

I respond to the Sept. 9 Dispatch editorial "Revise retirements." The newspaper took the position that public-sector retirement plans should move away from defined-benefit pensions and instead offer 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans.

With the precipitous fall in the assets held by defined-contribution plans, millions of Americans no longer have a secure financial future. These individuals now face the very real prospect of outliving their retirement savings and having to turn to taxpayer-funded public assistance, Medicaid, social services or their families for help.

On the other hand, a July report by the National Institute on Retirement Security titled, "The Pension Factor: Assessing the Role of Defined Benefit Plans in Reducing Elder Hardships," showed that defined-benefit-pension income reduces the risk of poverty and hardship among older Americans.

The report noted that pension income resulted in a savings of $7.3 billion in public-assistance expenditures and 4.7 million fewer households in poverty or near poverty in 2006 in the United States.

More than 23 million older Americans received a defined-benefit pension that year. A second report by NIRS showed that 87 percent of all American workers believe they should have a pension so they can be self-reliant in retirement.

The value of a defined-benefit plan is well understood by millions of Americans and by the members of our respective systems, State Teachers Retirement System and School Employees Retirement System.

We are joined by SERS and its executive director, James Winfree, in making changes to preserve the defined-benefit plan for future generations of Ohio school employees. That is one of the driving forces behind our respective boards' plans for the future; abandoning the defined-benefit plan is not.

MICHAEL J. NEHF Executive director State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio

Columbus