STRS: The whole iceberg this time or just the tip?

From  John Curry

December 29, 2021

DEN OF THIEVES

This morning I received this highly educational email from fellow STRS Watchdog and Member Only Forum Moderator Bob Buerkle. Here is what he had to say. Bob has a way of cutting through the legalese and turning it into language that you and I can understand. Please be seated before reading!

Bob Buerkle to John Curry

December 29, 2021

John,

In the 2021 STRS CAFR that was released last night I found the actual cost of the added debt that STRS has perpetrated on our Members. This appears on page 72 of the CAFR [Comprehensive Annual Financial Report]. The lowering of the "Discount Rate" from 7.45% to 7% added $4,433,797,000 to our debt. Said another way, STRS removed $4,433,797,000 that could have been used for retiree COLA's and Contribution reductions for active teachers. This is the third such reduction in the "Discount Rate" since 2012, when STRS began lowering the rate from the 8% level that had been successfully used since 2003. Since 2012, approximately $20 billion dollars has been taken(stolen) from retirees and active teachers by STRS Management and approved by OEA driven Board Members. All of this was done to make it look like Management was rescuing the pension system from the losses that they themselves had been responsible for due to their own actions of mismanagement.

The STRS Actuary recently reported that the cost of providing a permanent 2% COLA to retirees was about $13.8 billion dollars. The year before, when the "Discount Rate" was 7.45% the same permanent 2% COLA would have been $1 billion dollars less expensive.

Everything that STRS Management has done in the last 10-years has added debt and taken away benefits, all to make them look good.

Bob