Cathy Steinhauser defines "fiduciary" for the STRS Board

From Cathy Steinhauser

September 15, 2022

Cathy Steinhauser, 35 yrs., a satellite teacher w/Pickaway-Ross CTC in the Circleville City School District - Family & Consumer Sciences.

First I would like to welcome our new board members. The membership has high expectations from you. We are confident that you can fill these positions because we voted you in back in May. We have a mess here at STRS that needs to be cleaned up. The leaders of STRS don't think anything is wrong with the system but we know better. We are not stupid as many are now awakened again to the mismanagement, overpayment of salaries and bonuses and outrageous perks that have been taking place more recently in the past 12 yrs. STRS got greedy and spend thrifty during this time and forgot and/or didn't care about their main purpose and job. This actually had been going on for a while and investigations were done and the mess was somewhat fixed. But management got greedy again and things got worse.  The narcissistic, entitlement, status quo attitude needs to end. As a Board, your duty as fiduciaries is extremely important because everything you do affects the teachers you have vowed to protect.  Let me remind you…

A Fiduciary is:

" A person who acts on behalf of another person or persons, putting their client's interests ahead of their own, with a duty to preserve good faith and trust.  Being a fiduciary requires being bound both LEGALLY AND ETHICALLY to act in others best interests." This happens to be the 4th time I've stressed the importance of your position on this Board and I'm getting annoyed at some of you because you shouldn't be on this Board if you keep voting against us teachers!!

We have several board members who think the teacher's contributions, from both active and retired, is theirs to do whatever they want. Voting against the best interests of the teachers took away a COLA that many relied upon because you lied to us when the brochure claimed we would get it yearly. In our present state of economy, many are suffering from your poor decisions. I haven't received a COLA at all since I retired in 2015, even though I was told at my retirement meeting that I would get my first one in 2017. I have to wait another year to get my first one and that is shameful. Giving the STRS staff a 6% raise along with a 5.5% bonus back in June is another example of not being a fiduciary.  And then the Board allowed the investment staff to receive almost 10 million in bonuses is absolutely disgusting! Not to mention, investment staff lost, as was reported, a "mere" 3 billion when it actually was 12 billion!! Meanwhile, teachers have to work longer, have to wait longer before getting their first COLA in years and be at the mercy of the Board when they decide if we will be granted another COLA next year!! This has to stop NOW because it is legally, ethically and morally wrong. Like an abused child, we will continue fighting for OUR institution because you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar too many times!