Cathy Steinhauser to the STRS Board: DO THE RIGHT THING AND BE THE FIDUCIARY YOU’RE EXPECTED TO BE FOR THE TEACHERS!

Cathy Steinhauser's speech to STRS Board

March 21, 2024 

Cathy Steinhauser – 35 yrs., satellite teacher of Family & Consumer Sciences through Pickaway/Ross CTC for Circleville City Schools.

I am going to begin by having my assistant, Suzanne, again pass out four short articles, 3 written by Edward Siedle-top forensic auditor in the U.S.A. : “Ohio Teachers State Pension Far More Secretive Than CIA” (Feb. 8, 2024), “SEC Whistleblower Complaint Files Against Ohio Teachers State Pension” (March 1, 2024) and “Minnesota Teachers Fundraise Forensic Audit of State Pension System” (March 11, 2024), a link to a YouTube video ”The Hidden Truths About Cash Apps and Pension Systems” interviewing Ed and his information about pensions, and a fourth article in the Toledo Blade “Ohioans Deserve Better From Columbus” (March 5, 2024) by Brent Larkin about Ohioan’s thoughts about our Ohio state political system. These will give you more insight about our STRS pension system. It shouldn’t take you long to read these.

Next, I’m here to remind you about what a fiduciary is until the entire STRS Board starts to put teachers first:

FIDUCIARY - “A person (you all) who acts on behalf of another person or persons (the teachers), putting their client’s interests (teachers' interests) ahead of their own, with a duty to preserve good faith and trust. Being a fiduciary requires being bound both LEGALLY (by the law) AND ETHICALLY (using morals/values) to act in others' best interests.”

It is expected that every single person that works here from the senior staff all the way down to the newbies should have the teacher’s best interests in mind AT ALL TIMES!! TEACHERS. ARE. YOUR. PRIORITY!!

I attended the STRS Chillicothe Town Hall meeting at the Public Library on February 27, 2024. The meeting was limited to the first 60 who responded and I’m wondering how many invites you emailed out. The room held 100 and 75 showed up but only 60 could attend? I’m glad that those “15” over the limit were not turned away at the door! I had envisioned my pensioner guest, who wasn’t registered, having an issue attending but I was surprised that she was welcomed. Many pensioners have wondered what the criteria are that select some members over others when all teachers in the area of the Town Hall meetings should be invited. If space is an issue, I’m sure OU-C would have been happy to accommodate. 

I was also happy to discover a fellow pensioner/hero and former STRS board member sat behind me the entire meeting, Dr. Dennis Leone. Dr. Leone asked about the number of current employees and the acting executive director answered that there were about 500 which is down 250 since 2022. Dr. Leone told me that from 1996-2002 the employees increased from 414 to 725! Was there a hiring frenzy after Dr. Leone left? STRS still needs to downsize its number of employees and downsize the salaries…yet we see on the website that they’re looking to hire 16 people. The acting executive director said at the town hall mtg, “We are incredibly conscious around spending” but somehow that doesn’t resonate well with us when you’re in a hiring frenzy and the “Miscellaneous” category in the financial budget isn’t itemized for pensioners to see what you’re purchasing, it looks suspicious, like you’re hiding information.

DO THE RIGHT THING AND BE THE FIDUCIARY YOU’RE EXPECTED TO BE FOR THE TEACHERS!