Dean Dennis to elected officials: The problem at STRS can no longer be ignored

From Dean Dennis

June 28, 2021 

Please visit  https://www.strsohiowatchdogs.com/ and read the frustration expressed in an open letter by a STRS Board member who happens to be the Governor of Ohio's Board appointee.

Dear Elected Official,

By way of introduction, I serve on the Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) Legislative Committee and am the founder of STRS Ohio Watchdogs website. ORTA's Executive Director, Dr. Robin Rayfield,  serves as one of the Moderators for the STRS Ohio Watchdogs. We have concerns we need to share.

Please visit  https://www.strsohiowatchdogs.com/ and read the frustration expressed in an open letter by a STRS Board member who happens to be the Governor of Ohio's Board appointee.

The problems at STRS no longer can be ignored.  NBC News, Yahoo Business News, Bloomberg and Forbes have written about STRS Ohio. Ohio's active teachers Employee Contribution is 14% but they only receive an actuarial value defined benefit of 10.5%. During the past 37 years the STRS Employer Contribution has remained stagnant while the Employee Contribution has increased 9 times.

Where is the COLA promised upon retirement? In 2012 COLA was reduced, next it was frozen for a year. Since 2017, it has disappeared. This is due to the Legislature turning control of the COLA over to the STRS Board.  Using language that permitted the Board to "adjust the increases," the Board eliminated the COLA.  Representative Bill Seitz has since questioned if this was the intent of the language, or even legal.  Additionally, no one seems to care that the retirees who rushed to retire in order to beat the 5 year waiting period for a COLA, stated in the 2012 legislation, have now gone 8 years without a COLA. It should be notable that over 30,000 retirees have died since their promised COLA was eliminated 9 years ago.

Meanwhile, our pension plan has gone over 15 years without having the required Legislative 10 year fiduciary audit. Know that many of the important recommendations outlined in the 2006 fiduciary audit were ignored by STRS management. During this time period, our STRS attorney has become the STRS Executive Director. Still, STRS senior management states to members that STRS is one of the top pension plans in the United States.

There appears to be  solutions to the above, but apparently they're being ignored by senior management.

If you would like more information please contact Robin Rayfield at  rrayfield@orta.org or Dean Dennis at ddennis1111@gmail.com.  

Sincerely,

Dean Dennis

ORTA, Legislative Committee

STRS Ohio Watchdogs, Founder