Bob Buerkle: Did the STRS Management do a "snow job" on the Board?

Bob Buerkle to John Curry, January 21, 2011
Subject: Re: Fw: STRS - Page 2

John,

Were you at the Board meeting today? I'd like to know if they really looked at all of the possibilities that "new rules for new hires" could provide. For instance, if there is no provision for a COLA like Georgia put in place last year it makes a tremendous difference. Also, you would save the most with a lower formula than the current 2.2% by as much as possible. A 1.8% or 1.9% formula that would require 35 years of work would also provide a huge reduction in the unfunded liability period.

However, if the STRS Management did a snow job on the Board about a new plan for new hires that only put them in a "Defined Contribution Plan", just to get them back to discussing what Management wants to see happen, then they will not be able to achieve 30 year funding. Under the current STRS Defined Contribution Plan only 3.5% of the 14% employer contribution can be used to pay off the "unfunded liability" while the "defined benefit" members have 13% of the 14% of their employer contributions currently going to pay off our debt.

Can you or someone who was there let me know if this was discussed?

Please forward my email to Dave Parshall or somebody else who can answer my question.

Thanks,
Bob Buerkle