Robin Rayfield: Looking for real answers from the STRS Board

Robin Rayfield's speech to STRS Board

December 15, 2022

Good morning. My name is Robin Rayfield. I am a retired STRS member and Executive Director of the Ohio Retired Teachers Association.

I have met with 44 local retired teachers county associations this year. At these meetings I am impressed with the level of frustration that ORTA members have with STRS. I have also been asked by two senior management level STRS staff as to the source or genesis of this anger and frustration.

1. Although most of the board members currently serving on the STRS board did not make the decision to reduce the benefits retirees were promised, please remember that the promised benefits that were guaranteed by STRS and Ohio law were reduced AFTER most retirees were already collecting benefits. Until Board members Wade Steen, Yoel Mayerfeld, and Dr. Fichtenbaum began serving very little was said in public meetings about this broken covenant.

2. Although STRS touts its policies of transparency, most members that I communicate with feel that STRS is not transparent. For nearly two years, STRS has not provided information about the alternative investment program such as

a. How much is invested with each external investor

b. What the fees, expenses, and other costs associated with each investment is, and what is the value of each of those investments.

Now, we are all in the dark with regards to 'crypto currency' investments. How much money have we lost in this dark money world?

3. For years, STRS has known that the pension system spends more than it takes in through contributions. Why hasn't the employer contribution issue been addressed in 38 years? STRS has wasted time and resources 'trying to beat the market' something that they have been unable to do. Despite all the gaslighting about our performance in investing, STRS has not beat an indexed approach and have purposely provided misinformation about alternatives to the expensive 'beat the market strategies'. Why? No doubt because too many highly paid staff positions would be at risk.

4. Lack of shared sacrifice. When active members are paying the highest contribution rate in the country, employers are paying the lowest rate in the country, and working longer for a retirement that does not protect them from inflation, and retirees have experienced massive reductions in their promised benefits, STRS employees have continued to be the highest paid pension employees in the country. The expenses of subsidized benefits like the gymnasium, cafeteria, and opulent facilities are a slap in the face to people that provide the money to fund the operations.

I have asked STRS management 'What is the plan or pathway to improvement in the pension system that will allow STRS to fulfill its promise to the retired educators in Ohio?' The answer is that 'We are on a pathway to improvement. Each year we improve our funding ratio, and our investment performance is among the top in the country. Improvement will take time'. Time is something many STRS retirees have very little of. Thus, the anger and frustration.