Robin Rayfield's Letter to the Editor, Columbus Dispatch: Active teachers are now forced to pay more and work longer – only to get less when they retire

Letters to the Editor, Columbus Dispatch

August 29, 2023

Gov. Mike DeWine eliminated Ohio’s third grade reading guarantee last month but looked on this month as his hand-picked representative, mega-donor Brent Bishop, voted to continue a program that guarantees bonuses to pension staff at the State Teachers Retirement System.

DeWine has been ignoring years of outrage from teachers who have been removing pro-bonus members of their pension board over the last five elections.

The bonus program is a no-win for teachers. It calculates asset class bonuses on performance BEFORE subtracting expenses – a virtual guarantee that has reliably delivered bonuses to pension staff for the past 35 years.

To date, teacher money has been used to pay bonuses on at least $1.8 billion of overstated performance.

Such fiscal mismanagement has left Ohio teachers with the worst retirement deal in America.

Retired teachers have been crushed with record price increases. Unlike Social Security, Ohio teacher pensions do not reliably increase for inflation. Active teachers are now forced to pay more and work longer – only to get less when they retire.

It’s sad that DeWine’s best hope for his legacy is that today’s third graders won’t be able to read about his failed policies when they grow up.

Robin Rayfield,

Executive Director of the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association (ORTA)