STRS News from Robin Rayfield, Executive Director of the Ohio Retired Teachers Association

From the ORTA Newsletter

October 29, 2020

The STRS Board met in a virtual meeting on October 15, 2020. The meeting consisted of several presentations by the investment department and by the finance department. There is no ‘good news’ to report from either group, however, there were some contentious moments.

To begin with, there were problems with getting the minutes of the September meeting approved. Board member Steen wanted the minutes to reflect that there was some concern on the part of board members that the STRS staff feel pressure that the retirees are not receiving a COLA. After significant discussion on the matter the minutes were tabled.

Even though STRS chooses not to record meetings, Mr. Steen offered to provide a copy of September’s meeting so that the minutes could accurately reflect the discussion from that meeting. An important takeaway from this exchange is related to transparency. It would seem reasonable and appropriate for STRS to record meetings and make this recording available to STRS members that are unable to attend or listen to the meetings. No active teachers can ‘listen’ or be present at STRS meetings, so it would seem reasonable for a recording of the meetings to be available.

It is also worth mentioning that board member Wade Steen recognizes that many members of STRS are not satisfied with the current status quo. This dissatisfaction, especially for retirees, has led ORTA to make the difficult decision to engage an outside and independent expert to conduct a forensic audit of the STRS pension system. I have included a separate announcement in this newsletter [posted below]. I hope that all ORTA members can get behind this effort.

ORT A and the STRS Forensic financial audit

The Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) is proud to announce an effort to engage Benchmark Financial to conduct a forensic audit of the STRS Pension System. Edward ‘Ted’ Siedle (principal of Benchmark Financial Services) is a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney and globally recognized expert in pensions. His firm, Benchmark Financial Services, Inc., has conducted well over $1 trillion in reviews of pensions on behalf of pension plan sponsors and pension participants. To learn more about Mr. Siedle you can visit http://www.siedlewhistleblowerforensics.com/whistleblower....

The decision to engage in a review of what is taking place with our pension system did not come easy. For several years STRS has failed to live up to its obligations to retirees. The loss of our guaranteed pension benefits beginning in 2015 with the reduction of our promised increase of pension benefits followed by the elimination of our promised increases in 2017 have forced retirees into this decision. STRS is in the best financial shape of the 5 public pension systems in Ohio, however, STRS retirees have gone several years without any increase in benefits. Some retirees have gone 8 years without an increase in retirement benefits! The loss of COLA, despite being promised by STRS and guaranteed in Ohio law at the time of retirement has no end in sight. When pressed for answers, STRS leadership simply say ‘STRS will only consider providing any COLA after the pension system has reached a funding level of 85%’. Keep in mind that in over 100 years of existence STRS has only been at funding level of 85% or above a handful of times and has not been at 85% or more in the past decade. At the October STRS meeting the paid financial consultant for STRS (Cheiron) indicated that STRS is not likely to reach the 85% funding threshold for many years. If STRS is unable to pay its obligations to its retirees at a time when the stock market is at record levels and the burden on active teachers is 40% higher than it was a decade ago, it is time for a deeper look at the manner in which our retirement is managed.

Thus, ORTA has agreed to participate in the collection of donations from STRS members to pay the fees associated with this external and independent review of STRS. To collect these donations ORTA has established an account at our partner Education First Credit Union. All donations collected for this purpose will be deposited into the Forensic Audit Account. There are several ways that you can donate towards our goal of raising the $75,000 required for this forensic audit:

1. Current ORTA members can contribute any amount by writing a check to ORTA Forensic Audit. Your donation will be recorded in your name and deposited into the appropriate account. (Form on next page)

2. You can go online to www.orta.org and click on the Forensic Audit link to make a donation by credit card. Again, your donation will be recorded in your name.

3. If you are not a member of ORTA and would like to donate to the forensic audit you can donate any amount towards the forensic audit account. Your donation will include an annual ORTA membership at a rate of 50% ($15). The remainder of your donation will be deposited into the forensic audit account in your name.

4. People who do not want to join ORTA at the 50% discounted rate may ‘opt out’ of ORTA membership by calling our office and donate desired amount by phone at 614.431.7002 If the donation levels do not reach the required levels to engage Mr. Siedle, donations of $50 or more to the forensic audit account will be returned to the person making the donation. Donations of less than $50 will be converted to ORTA memberships. If our donation levels exceed the fees paid to Mr. Siedle, the remaining funds will be deposited into the ORTA Foundation.