Thoughts and reports from Tom Curtis

From Tom Curtis

November 28, 2023

11.28.23

To the STRS memberships’ chagrin, the OEA/STRS/ORSC are willing to go as far as they possibly need to stop six (6) elected reform Board members from gaining control of Ohio educators mandated 28% contributions. Governor DeWine's action in May 2023 of removing Wade Steen from the Board is a very clear indication of that.

The OEA/STRS/ORSC have all looked at educators' contributions as their money to handle anyway they desire for over 30 years and have wasted multi-billions. STRS is bleeding 10-15 million dollars every business day. That has to be drastically reduced immediately.

The administration and the six (6) status quo Board members, Chair Dale Price, Co-Chair Carol Correthers, appointees G. Brent Bishop, Claudia Herrington, Dr. Scott Hunt & Allison Lanza Falls all refuse to significantly cut costs as any business would be required to do by its stakeholders. WHY not STRS?

This is exactly why I rightfully call the OEA a traitorous association. The OEA does not deserve teacher’s dues, because they did not protect them in retirement. The OEA has not looked out for our futures. They have lied to us about the liquidity of STRS and have left their retired members without a promised COLA. They have accumulated huge debt and are making the actives pay for that debt by requiring them to pay the second highest contribution rate of 14% in the nation and making them work until age 34 to get full retirement, the highest requirement in the nation. This is a horrible scenario. The OEA should close its doors and hid their heads in shame. Traitors, they are all traitors! 

11.28.23 

What would it cost to put up several billboards asking, "Where is Wade Steen". Why has he not been reinstated on the STRS Board of Directors? With his picture on it.

11.24.23

Educators Must Make a Stand or Lose Their Pension System to Outside Criminals

Educators must understand that our STRS pension system has been under siege by criminals outside of education for over 30 years and there is absolutely no one of authority in our government or judicial system that is trying to stop the looting.

The OEA is and has been the problem for 30 years. Only one of their traitorous members, Carol Correthers remains, though Dale Price is OFT, his voting record has been fully in support of the OEA majority and will hopefully be voted off of the Board in April.

The OEA-supported Board members for the past 30 years, which had held the majority of the seats until recently have been traitors by allowing the system to be operated far beyond budget, when it is the Board’s fiduciary responsibility to demand a balanced budget. Those people have failed us miserably! Ohio teachers have the worst pension system on the nation and that is directly the result of the OEA being able to purchase every Board seat for 30 years.

This is not a conspiracy theory; it is proven fact that STRS funds have been and are to this very day being looted by people from outside of our membership, and most infuriating, by people paid with educator’s funds to manage the system.

This is not going to be stopped until the membership bans together and demands reform ASAP.

The voting process that has permitted 5 reform Board members to be seated has been assaulted by the Governor by removing Wade Steen, the current day patriarch of reform that was on the Board, to be removed from the Board, thus taking away a 6 person reform Board and our judicial system is in no hurry to right that illegal action and reinstate Wade Steen to the Board to finish his term of appointment.

Does the STRS membership need to call for a statewide strike by teachers to get Wade Steen rightfully reinstated? It clearly looks that way.

The STRS Board should have as of September had a majority (6) reform Board in place, but government interfered and caused reform to be set aside until another reform candidate can be elected in April. That is too far away, because that person elected will not be seated on the Board until September of 2024.

The criminals operating STRS need to be removed ASAP. The 6 status quo Board members have to be dealt with. These 6 people that are holding up reform of the system under the guise of being fiduciaries need to be held accountable for their failure to stop the looting.

What needs to be done for reform has been brought to the Boards attention monthly, for in excess of 20 years by those that take the time to attend monthly Board meetings and speak to the Board, the only problem is, the status quo Board ignores them.

When and how are these people going to be stopped! STRS members, this is in your hands alone, for there is no other help.

11.24.23

Educators Must Make A Stand or Lose Their Pension System To Outside Criminals 

Educators must understand that our STRS pension system has been under siege by criminals outside of education for about 30 years and there is absolutely no one of authority in our government or judicial system that is trying to stop the looting. The OEA is and has been the problem for 30 years.

The OEA-supported Board members for the past 30 years, which had held the majority of the seats until recently have been traitors by allowing the system to be operated far beyond budget, when it is the Board’s fiduciary responsibility to demand a balanced budget. Those people have failed us miserably! Ohio teachers have the worst pension system on the nation! 

This is not a conspiracy theory; it is proven fact that STRS funds have been and are to this very day being looted by people from outside of our membership, and most infuriating, by people paid with educator’s funds to manage the system.

This is not going to be stopped until the membership bans together and demands reform ASAP. 

The voting process that has permitted 5 reform Board members to be seated has been assaulted by the Governor by removing Wade Steen, the current day patriarch of reform that was on the Board, to be removed from the Board, thus taking away a 6 person reform Board and our judicial system is in no hurry to right that illegal action and reinstate Wade Steen to the Board to finish his term of appointment.

Does the STRS membership need to call for a statewide strike by teachers to get Wade Steen rightfully reinstated? It clearly looks that way. 

The STRS Board should have as of September had a majority (6) reform Board in place, but government interfered and caused reform to be set aside until another reform candidate can be elected in April. That is too far away, because that person elected will not be seated on the Board until September of 2024.

The criminals operating STRS need to be removed ASAP. The 6 status quo Board members have to be dealt with. These 6 people that are holding up reform of the system under the guise of being fiduciaries need to be held accountable for their failure to stop the looting. 

What needs to be done for reform has been brought to the Boards attention monthly, for in excess of 20 years by those that take the time to attend monthly Board meetings and speak to the Board, the only problem is, the status quo Board ignores them. 

When and how are these people going to be stopped! STRS members, this is in your hands alone, for there is no other help.

11.21.23

I have sent the following out to over 100,000 active teachers on Linkedln over the past 1-1/2 years.

“Most STRS members are unaware of the 30 years of gross misspending, collusion and corruption perpetrated by the OEA/STRS/ORSC.”

“To help educate you about this and what needs to be done, I invite you to connect with me and learn what you can do to help.”  

Sadly, I have just under 2900 connections as of today; the rest of the members simply ignore it. Does this indicate to you that educators are concerned and want to get involved? This is why STRS has been able to loot the system for over 20 years.

11.19.23

“STRS Ohio will continue its unwavering focus on Ohio’s public educators and their families to protect their financial security,” Price was quoted as saying in a newspaper article. Sadly, Dale Price's actions sure doesn't mirror this statement by his recent voting for outlandish raises and bonuses for staff, while retirees receive a meager 1% cost of living raise. Dale Price is one of the status quo Board members that have consistently rebuked any progress by the 5 reform Board members and will hopefully be voted off of the Board this coming April and replaced by reformer Michelle Flanigan. When that occurs, the membership will see a Board focused on providing a safe and secure pension system that will uphold its promises to its members, something Dale Price has no concept of.

11.14.23

11.14.23 Norton Town Hall Meeting

Bill Neville had another of his Town Hall meetings (dog and pony shows) in Norton on Tuesday 11.14.23. There was a crowd of about 40-45 members in attendance. Seven (7) full-time STRS staff members and Board Vice-chair Carol Correthers were in attendance. Carol did not speak to the crowd. The meeting was recorded and should be available on the STRS website soon.

I provided the attendees with 2 handouts, the 2-page Mess at STRS flyer and a 2-page copy of the 11.14.23 Toledo Blade article concerning the lavish pay raises recently given to the investment staff, and included the STRS listing showing who received the raises, the payout amounts and percentage of increase for each employee. The minimum increase was 5.14%, the highest was 48.7%, with the average being 17.23% increase in pay. The average increase was $32,000 per employee. In comparison, retirees received a 1% increase this year.

One female retiree told me that it made no difference to her how much they paid the investment staff because they had such quality people. I asked her a few questions about the investment staff and investments they made, and she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, but she was firm on her thought that the STRS investment staff were the greatest and should be paid well. This brief communication with this member would indicate to me that she simply believes all of the propaganda STRS publishes without any real knowledge of how well the investment staff truly are doing. In my opinion, this is a prime example of why the pension fund has been looted of billions of dollars, because the vast majority of the members have no knowledge what is truly being done with actives’ contributions. The membership has been lied to and Bill Neville keeps the lies alive at every town hall meeting he holds.

There were many questions about HC coverage, retirement and the COLA. Neville blames the fact that we are only receiving a 1% COLA on Cheiron, the company that performs the STRS valuation. Cheiron can always find money for the staff, but not for the members.

The STRS staff is the highest paid staff in the nation and yet the actives have the worst retirement deal in the nation. STRS is the only Ohio pension system that has failed to provide their members with a promised COLA for 7-10 years. STRS has saved multi-millions by not paying the promised 3% COLA for all of those years, yet is still not funded well enough to provide the promised 3% annual COLA today and Neville says he has no idea when it might return.

Neville was asked what he was doing to reduce costs. He said they had reduced the staff from a high of 720+ to just under 500 but gave no time span for having done so nor gave any indication that more cuts would be made. The high of 700+ employees were in 2003 and had not been near that number for at least a decade. Neville is in essence taking credit for a reduction in staff that he had little to do with. Why in the world do they need a staff of 500? No budget cuts were mentioned. Neville indicated that they had now cleared out the original portion of the office building and are looking for someone to rent it, but said it is a very difficult market and gave no indication when that might happen or possible revenue that might be derived. Massive expenditure cuts are needed at STRS and Bill Neville obviously has no thought of reducing costs, for he mentioned no other cost cutting plans.

Neville was asked why he gave the investment staff 11 million in bonuses this year, he said it was only 8.6 million and that the Board were the ones to give the bonuses, not him, but offered no explanation.

Neville indicated in one of his slides that from 2001-2021 the investment department outperformed the S & P 500 by 47%. I asked a question about the graph the Auditor of State published in 2022 showing that from 2009-2021 the investment department underperformed the S & P 500 index fund by 90 billion dollars, that is a 50% underperformance. He claimed that could not be compared because it was not for the same time period and that the S & P 500 value would need to be taken back to zero and started over again in 2009 and continued to explain it away in Bill Neville fashion by responding in a manner that no one could understand. He cannot be held responsible for anything; it is always someone else’s fault. Once a question was asked a follow up question was not permitted.

A school union president indicated that her school is in the process of cutting 5 teachers because their levy did not pass. She said she is very worried that if STRS was successful in getting a 4% increase in the employer contribution, that would lead to massive numbers of teacher lay-offs. Neville said that the employer contribution has not been changed from 14% since 1983 and that it is time that it be raised. Nevill offered no compassion or empathy for what the school union president was concerned about.

My takeaway from what I experienced, Bill Neville continues to present propaganda and lies to the membership at these meetings and cannot be held accountable for anything he states or says because he refutes anything that is asked of him about his wild claims. He defends everything STRS does and no one is allowed to ask a second question. Neville totally controls the meeting and attendance is of minimal worth for the huge expense that it costs to put each meeting on. The propaganda machine roars ahead full steam. 

10.30.23 

Questions: Do the 500,000 Ohio educators really care about their retirement system? How many cares to understand that the OEA/STRS management have been systematically allowing the looting of their pension system for over 30 years, thus Ohio educators have the worst retirement deal in the nation. 

After personally contacting over 10,000 Ohio educators over the past year and a half, I am finding that the vast majority have little concern about their future retirement, and I just do not understand this. How can that be? What is so lacking in an educator's extensive educational background that permits this lack of concern for themselves and all future educators?  

Educators are failing to educate themselves about their future retirement and thus the criminals that have been operating STRS for the past 20 years are being paid 3-4 times what the members ever hope to make in education. The STRS staff is the highest paid staff in the nation, yet Ohio educators have the worst deal in the nation.

It is imperative that the active educators elect a 6th reform candidate to the STRS Board this coming April to ensure a reform majority and stop the gross misspending.

10.25.23 

Hello Educators,

A vast number of STRS members are unaware of the 30 years of collusion and corruption perpetrated by the OEA/STRS/ORSC. To help educate you about this corruption and what needs to be done, I invite you to connect with me.

While teachers are paying in one of the highest rates in the nation and retirees have lost billions in lost COLA’s, the STRS status quo Board pays investments staff millions in bonuses. It is very disturbing to me that this rip-off of contributions continues unchecked, because no political office will do anything about it.

It is imperative that the active teachers elect a 6th reform candidate to the STRS Board this coming April to insure a reform majority.

Tom Curtis, STRS Retiree, Advocate for STRS Reform since 2003