Dean Dennis and Robin Rayfield to Ohio Legislators: STRS retirees need another seat on the STRS Board

From Dean Dennis and Robin Rayfield

November 15, 2021

Dear Ohio Legislators,

The Ohio Legislature Needs to Adjust the STRS Elected Board Seats.

There are 167,838 active teacher members in STRS and 157,418 retired teacher members in STRS. This breaks down to a ratio of 51.6% active members and 48.4% retired members.

Currently, retired teachers are only permitted to elect 2 elected Board members out of 7 seats. Even if retirees were granted an extra seat, being allowed to elect 3 trustees out of the 7; retirees would still be under-represented, but the parity would be less discriminatory than it is today.

This is the year to make the change because there are two active board seats up for election in the Spring of 2022. This only occurs once every 4 years, see §3307.06(A) . We seek your help in ending this inequity against Ohio's retired teachers.

Please take action by sponsoring, or supporting, legislation that will rectify this inequity before the election that takes place in the spring of 2022.

This letter has the full support of the Ohio Retired Teachers Association, the Ohio STRS Members Only Facebook Group and the STRS Ohio Watchdogs which represent over 45,000 members.

Thank you,

Dean Dennis

Dr. Robin Rayfield