Not all active educators are glaring at the headlights!

Adrian Smith to John Curry, January 28, 2011
Subject: Re: Our meeting earlier this past year re. lowest pension amounts and a possible COLA adjustment

Seems pretty simple for me....we must look out for EVERYONE in the system....Getting closer to retirement it's scary that STRS seems to work like a lot of local boards of education...they don't know what they are really doing.. unlike some boards, they DO HAVE the resources to act competently....while I'm not happy about many of the provisions, I can live with them but I cannot understand the COLA cut. It drastically affects ONLY retirees who are at a stage of life where earning supplemental income can be very difficult.

I'm already scared...should I go this or next year....can we anticipate a flood of new retirees next year of which many are being literally forced to leave because of the deep cuts in the COLA. I am not ready to leave teaching but I'd be crazy not to, with this current recommendation of the 5 year 'waiting' period. Simply put over 25 years of retirement I will receive just over $100,000 less waiting until 2013(new rules) than going in 2012(old rules)!

I'm also jittery that once people realize this, there will be 'bubble' of new retirees.....how will that affect the system.....I'm jittery enough already that I've got my hand on the button every day....my retirement forms etc are all complete on my desk at home waiting to be sent in at a moments notice because I don't know what we will hear next.....the anticipation of the changes (good and bad) that retirement will incur aside, it's very heartless and mindless by those in charge to see little if any thought FOR THOSE THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT put into their decisions but rather only trying to protect their own images.

In hindsight (and it's hard to believe I'm saying this because I trusted in STRS), if I had known this 30 years ago and had had the choice of opting out of STRS and placing this money with a financial advisor/company of my own choice I would have done it. My funds would not have been affected by blind self serving political decisions except if they were my own.

John....I've only been getting your feeds for a couple of days but you are doing a world of service to all of those teachers who believed in others so we could worry about kids. What would our kids say if we failed them like this?

Adrian Smith
.....
John Curry to Mike Nehf and STRS Board, January 27, 2011
Subject: Our meeting earlier this past year re. lowest pension amounts and a possible COLA adjustment

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm sure all of you recall our small meeting earlier this past year re. what could be done to adjust potential COLA cuts for those pensioners who were receiving very small pensions due to their final average salaries when (most of them anyway) they retired decades ago. We discussed a possibility of modifying the COLA cuts for these most needy (and mostly elderly) among us.

The bottom line was that STRS didn't adopt any provision for a COLA modification for those receiving the least among us and the only possible relief suggested was that an STRS board member mentioned a "charity" fund that some retirees may be eligible for and.... then this issue died.

Well, little did I know that even before this potential COLA cut discussion to modify cuts to these unfortunate STRS retirees, another Ohio public retirement system had already addressed this situation with more creativity and compassion that was forthcoming from STRS. Here, ladies and gentleman, is what another Ohio public retirement system had already accomplished and had related (in writing) to the Ohio Retirement Study Council.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Retirement System happened to address this very same issue (that STRS just couldn't seem to be able to successfully address) on Sept. 9, 2009....almost one year prior to our meeting at STRS on that warm summer day, didn't they? It's a shame this meeting couldn't have been more productive. It's also a shame I didn't discover these words until today.

Sincerely,
John Curry

P.S. Below is how the Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System successfully addressed this very same problem and a link to the origin of these words.