CORE's position on STRS pension reform

1 CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators) is opposed to the reduction of COLA from 3% to 2%. It is called a "cost of living allowance", but in reality it is not. It is not compounded and is based on the Final Average Salary. Thus, those who have large pensions get a much larger annual increase than those, mainly older retirees, with pensions below $40,000 and $30,000. For those with lower pensions, the 1% reduction is a much bigger hit. A new formula that accounts for fairness and the actual cost of living which is the same for all retirees needs to be created. All states that have reduced the COLA of retirees are now in litigation for breaking a legal contract with retirees. We hope this can be avoided in Ohio.
2. CORE has always been opposed to the 88% enhanced pension enacted by a former board, several members of which were convicted of ethics violations. CORE filed the initial complaint with the Ohio Ethics Commission that led to the convictions. This unearned enhancement has and will cost STRS money far into the future even if it were stopped today. It went into effect overnight and does not need to be grandfathered beyond 2012.

3. Considering that the current average STRS retirement age is now 59, it makes little sense to grandfather the change to age 60 much beyond 2015.

4. All STRS cuts to date have been directed at retirees. Those who have to insure their spouses with the STRS health care plan have taken a $13,000 annual hit to their already low pension. There are nearly 10,000 career teachers who do not qualify for Medicare Part A because they were never allowed to pay into it. As it stands now, STRS will be unable to offer a healthcare plan beyond 2024 or possibly sooner. Thus, thousands of retired teachers in their later years will become wards of the state. Clearly health care is the next looming issue.

5. CORE is opposed to the practice of "double dipping" and believes that there should be only one retirement. It is hard to believe that this is cost neutral to STRS because once the rehired educator finally retires from education, the money the "rehire" pays into STRS is refunded to them and is lost to STRS forever. But even if it costs STRS only one dollar, the practice is "gaming the system" and needs to stop to avoid the appearance of greed in the eyes of the general public. Double dipping is mainly being done by administrators whose salaries over the decades have risen at a greater rate than classroom teachers' salaries.

Also the "pickup" practice of school boards paying for all of administrators' STRS contributions should be ended. This will save school boards money in the face of looming budget cuts. This will also help ward off some teacher layoffs and increases to class size that lead to low test scores.