Cathy Steinhauser to STRS board and staff: I still haven’t found any information whatsoever about a pension fiduciary also obligated to being a fiduciary to the staff…most likely because it doesn’t exist due to it being a lie…certain people in this room should not speak of things they know not of. Intimidating board members through lies is disgusting.

Cathy Steinhauser's speech to STRS board

September 20, 2024

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

I would like to take a moment to thank an STRS board member for his years of service to the teachers of Ohio.  This is your last day and we are so very grateful for what you have done for us despite the despicable treatment you received your last 11 “stolen” months this past year.  Your integrity, morals and values were questioned and you and your family were threatened.  The evil you and your family were subjected to by individuals was unconscionable.  But STRS pensioners knew better and believed in your high morals, values, integrity and dedication to your fiduciary duty.  You are the definition of and ethical example of what a true fiduciary exemplifies. Pensioners owe you a great deal and we will not forget you and your famous quote:

“STRS exists to pay teachers”

For those of you who need to hear this definition again because you ignore what is the single most important responsibility you have serving on this board: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as such…

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

I still haven’t found any information whatsoever about a pension fiduciary also obligated to being a fiduciary to the staff…most likely because it doesn’t exist due to it being a lie…certain people in this room should not speak of things they know not of. Intimidating board members through lies is disgusting.

Also concerning PBIs, 75% of ALL PENSIONS DO NOT GIVE bonuses which proves that STRS has been lying to those in this room by claiming it is common to award bonuses…because it is not.  I have a simple hand out that a pensioner, John Curry, through a FOIA request, a posted Memo from July 1, 2022 on the PBI Program and it says “Further, the Program may be interpreted, amended, rescinded and/or terminated by the STRS Ohio Board at any time”. Let’s try real hard to remember this for next year…because if you don’t, we pensioners will remind you.

Karen Loeffler to STRS board: I’m still trying to digest the concept that the board has a greater fiduciary duty to the staff than to the members of STRS, the members whose pensions are the primary function of the organization.

Karen Loeffler's speech to STRS board

September 20, 2024

My name is Karen Loeffler. I retired in July 2012 from Pickerington Local School District, with 30 years experience as a high school classroom teacher and as a middle school counselor. I also spent countless hours as a volunteer in Pickerington, in a variety of capacities.

I was here in July for the special meeting, which was a difficult meeting for all concerned. But the moment that absolutely stunned me was when the attorney expressed his concern that, if the board did not approve bonuses for the investment staff, they would be violating their fiduciary duty to said staff. I’m still trying to digest the concept that the board has a greater fiduciary duty to the staff than to the members of STRS, the members whose pensions are the primary function of the organization. There are just no words to express my deep dissatisfaction with that situation.

I have never sat on the board. I don’t know what the legal constraints are under which you must operate. As a school counselor, I took a graduate-level course on the legal and ethical obligations of my profession. There were times I had to make difficult decisions, times that I did not make my fellow teachers happy, but I made every effort to follow the legal and ethical guidelines I had been taught, and which I was obliged to follow. I know that you find yourselves in similar situations, but your guiding light should be - must be - your fiduciary obligations to the members of STRS, both active and retired.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your willingness to serve on this board, in what is a difficult, challenging, and often frustrating position. And I, like many others, am deeply, deeply grateful for Wade Steen, who has gone above and beyond in tirelessly advocating on our behalf. You will be deeply missed, sir, and I wish you nothing but the best as you move on.

Suzanne Laird at STRS Board meeting: words of advice to the new Board member

Suzanne Laird's speech at STRS Board meeting

September 20, 2024

Good Morning, Members of MY Board:

I would like to welcome our newest member and wish him the very best of luck. You will need it.

Do not look to the Interim Director to set the example: she’s drawing such an exorbitant salary she cannot see her way to do her fiduciary duty to the members. Her predecessor sits at home, continuing months of paid time-out. Their combined salaries could return a sorely -needed million back to our coffers.

Speaking of millions, I sure you’ve heard about our over-paid, underperforming investment staff. It takes many finance geniuses to lose money in a 10 year bull market, including this week’s record gains. But Member Benefits will continue to hire, instead of cut or consolidate positions, and smile and tell you everything is wonderful because their surveys say so!

Question everything.

Question why the finance department insists on investing in failing real estate deals and alternative investments with ties to political contributions. The political contributions that benefit the very government employees sworn to protect the pensions of Ohio via the ORSC. You can be forgiven if you’ve never heard of that entity, since they rarely bother to meet, and when they do, they spend time pitting active teachers against retirees, calling it “intergenerational equity.”

Your fellow Board members can bring you up to speed: but choose carefully — one is an appointee from the Treasurer’s office, but has never heard of Nvidia, the most aggressively traded stock in the last 9 months, another lacks basic manners, yelling, “Aww, hell no!” when voting, and a third wishes to spend 99 thousand dollars on a “listening” task force. This is the same appointee who ignores the public participation portion of every Board meeting.

But you came on a perfect day. Watch and learn from one of the best. You’ll have to learn quickly— today, and today only — you’ll get a crash course on what an inquisitive, incisive member of this Board can do when priorities are aligned with integrity.

Welcome and good luck.

Robin Beebe to STRS board: Words of thanks for Wade Steen

Robin Beebe's speech to STRS

September 20, 2024

Sue Brannan outlines outlandish STRS expenses paid for with teachers' earnings

Susan Brannan's speech to STRS board

September 20, 2024

Robin Rayfield to STRS board: "A few years ago, I stated in public participation that everyone involved with STRS gets rich except the people that put the money in."

From ORTA Execuitive Director Dr. Robin Rayfield

Speech to STRS Board

September 20, 2024

Change is coming!

Good morning. My name is Robin Rayfield. I am an STRS retiree and the Executive Director of ORTA.

I would like to take this time to share my congratulations to Wade Steen as he completes his service to STRS members. Despite attacks by the governor, the A.G., and STRS leadership, Mr. Steen has served with integrity and always placed the interests of educators first. His support of STRS members has come at a high cost. Attempting to do his fiduciary duty has resulted in him being targeted by the two biggest political figures in Ohio. 

What is so difficult to understand is ‘WHY’? Mr. Steen has objected to bonuses paid to employees that he was not convinced had been earned. He has attempted to increase transparency regarding fees and expenses and the benchmark calculation. Instead of supporting his transparency efforts as an elected official should do, the governor and A.G. of Ohio, with the support of the people responsible for the lack of transparency, have attacked board members that seek reform. I think the lawyer that successfully demonstrated that Governor DeWine had acted inappropriately provided the answer to the why ‘Follow the money’. 

A few years ago, I stated in public participation that everyone involved with STRS gets rich except the people that put the money in. The consultants, the management team and investors, Wall St. external investment managers, and politicians all get rich. The only people that get shafted are the people that paid in to the system. 

I also reminded you all that each election is a referendum on the STRS board members, consultants, and STRS management. We all know the results of those referendums. Change is coming. The decision on the consultant and discussion yesterday is yet another example. It is so clear to the members that STRS management are deathly afraid of having a consultant that provides advice to the board that provides a perspective that doesn’t place management’s interests over the interests of the membership management team. It is past time that leadership at STRS and the consultants that advise the management experience change as well.

Robin Rayfield, Executive Director

Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association (ORTA)

Tom Curtis to STRS board: The only job STRS staff and Board have ever had was to provide the very best benefits for all STRS retirees and their beneficiaries and in my opinion, they have failed us miserably.

Tom Curtis' speech to STRS board and staff

September 20, 2024

Good afternoon,

My name is Thomas Curtis. I taught Industrial Arts and Technology at the high school level for 26 years, then left teaching on a disability in 1998.

Over 21 years ago I began attending and speaking at this podium on a monthly basis from 2003-2006. Why? Because I had learned of all of the misspending at STRS that had been brought to light in 2003 by former Board members Dr. Dennis Leone and John Lazarus and then corroborated by an investigative reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, all of which the OEA denied.

The only job STRS staff and Board have ever had was to provide the very best benefits for all STRS retirees and their beneficiaries and in my opinion, they have failed us miserably.

I am hopeful that the new reform majority Board will come together in their resolve and demand gross cutbacks in this staff and expenses and rid this pension system of this sickening scamming culture that has permeated this building for over 30 years.

In the 1990’s, when the corruption began under then Executive Director Herbert Dyer and assistant ED Robert Bowers, they unjustly spent multi-millions on increasing the size of this facility. This building is unjustified and needs to be sold, which will save multi-millions in future operating expenses.

From 2003-2006 I learned that the staff would not be held accountable by a Board made up of a majority of OEA-supported members or Governor Robert Taft. That was when I stopped attending Board meetings, but I have never stopped my advocacy for reform and change.

What exists today here at STRS is best described by another benefit recipient, Trina Kay Prufer…..

I quote, “STRS operates for the betterment of staff, Wall Street and politicians. Ohio’s educators are the source of this largesse. The roots of this scam go way back decades and its enablers are legislators, senior staff, consultants, accountants, legal staff, the OEA, the governor and the attorney general’s office. Just writing this makes me sound like a crazy conspiratorialist; however, after looking at this situation for the past year, there is no other conclusion to be found. STRS is an outlier in the public pension world and brings grief and financial instability to those it has promised to provide for.”

STRS is broken! What Trina has written is something I have known for over two decades, during my advocacy for reform at STRS.

This is something every member needs to understand, for their pension is definitely at risk, if the current administration continues.

Neville is OUT!

Ohio teachers' pension fund decides to cut ties with executive director

By Laura A. Bischoff

Columbus Dispatch

September 20, 2024

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio put its executive director, Bill Neville, on paid administrative leave in November following an anonymous letter accusing him of harassment. An investigation found the allegations baseless but the STRS board has kept Neville on leave.

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio board voted to part ways with Executive Director Bill Neville, who has been on paid leave since November.

The terms of the deal won't be released until the agreement is signed, according to STRS. The vote was unanimous except for one board member, Wade Steen, who abstained.

Neville's contract, which ends June 2027, pays him $318,270 a year. He's been on paid leave for the past 10 months.

A growing faction of the STRS board was unhappy with Neville and his team. In November, an anonymous letter surfaced, accusing Neville of harassment and bizarre behavior. An outside investigation determined the allegations to be unfounded, but the STRS board decided to keep Neville on leave.

The board's disgruntlement extends beyond Neville and to other top staff. On Friday, board members spent 25 minutes debating a no-confidence vote in the pension fund's senior staff and investment team. The vote tied 5-5.

Following the vote, interim Executive Director Lynn Hoover told the board members that the tone and message were demoralizing and threatening for staff. "We've got an incredible staff. Do we have improvements to make? Yes, we always do."

STRS Board Member Carol Correthers said the divisiveness runs the risk of driving employees out and making it more difficult to attract new hires.

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, the state's second largest public pension fund, oversees about $90 billion invested on behalf of 500,000 teachers and retirees. Its 11-member board has been infighting over the direction and governance of the system.
STRS hired Neville more than 19 years ago, named him chief legal officer in 2018 and appointed him as executive director in July 2020.

STRS Ohio is governed by an 11-member board that includes appointees and elected members. The board oversees more than $90 billion invested for 500,000 teachers and retirees.

Activists have been mounting a board takeover, electing board members who are more sympathetic to their complaints about transparency, senior leadership, staff bonuses, and the suspension of the cost-of-living allowances for retirees. Some of the reformers had called for Neville to be ousted.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

Read the article online here.

Calling all Trump lovers and Trump haters: You need to hear this podcast about Trump's Project 2025: Up Close. Personal.

By David Pepper

September 18, 2024

"This podcast series depicts how the lives of everyday Americans would be impacted by the policies outlined in Trump's Project 2025 and the return of Donald Trump to power. These fictional stories follow everyday Americans who will be drastically impacted by Project 2025 and Trump’s explicit promises."

Read more here.

Wade Steen says it well.....

How does STRS treat legitimate requests from its own board members? Check this out.

 

You must vote YES on Issue 1 if you are AGAINST gerrymandering! WHY? Read on!

Watch now

BREAKING: Ohio Supreme Court OK's Blatant Ballot Manipulation

By David Pepper

September 16, 2024

How Do We Respond? Vote Yes on 1, and Flip the Court!

It wasn’t a surprise.

Because any court that tells us that “boneless” means “with bones” is willing to do just about anything.

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Still, the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision last night upholding Frank LaRose’s deceitful ballot language manipulation for Issue 1 is still as outrageous as it gets.

Recall that Issue 1 bans partisan gerrymandering, and would replace rigged maps currently in place (which were drawn by gerrymandered politicians) with maps drawn by a tri-partisan panel of citizens.

Then recall that LaRose’s Orwellian ballot language literally creates the impression that the opposite would happen if issue 1 passes. Among other things, the language falsely suggests that Issue 1 requires gerrymandering, and that the maps being replaced were the ones drawn by citizens. It’s an egregious lie, being placed right on the ballot that Ohio voters use to vote. A true abuse of power.

Well, last night, the Ohio Supreme Court gave a green light to almost every aspect of that misinformation disguised as ballot language.

You can read the entire opinion HERE.

But rather than waste your time, let me quote the powerful dissents put forth by Justices Donnelly and Brunner, joined by Justice Stewart. (Justices Stewart and Donnelly are both up for reelection).

Justice Donnelly:

“The proponents of the proposed constitutional amendment in Issue 1 believe that the foxes are guarding the henhouse, so they want a changing of the guard. Respondents, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and the Ohio Ballot Board, have chosen ballot language that tells Ohio voters that the amendment would burn down the henhouse….”

“The majority extracts [] terms and concepts, divorces them from all context, assigns whatever meaning it finds most acceptable, and shoves each one back into its original context to allow for ballot language that is clearly contrary to both the letter and the spirit of the proposed amendment. This kind of interpretive mischief might be excusable for someone like Amelia Bedelia but not for a state court of last resort….”

“Chief Justice John Roberts of the United States Supreme Court famously distilled the notion of impartiality down to the role of an umpire in America’s favorite pastime—baseball—whose job it is “to call balls and strikes.”… If your favorite baseball team loses after an umpire calls a strike and the pitch was squarely inside the strike zone, it is reasonable to be disappointed about your team, but it is not reasonable to be outraged at rules being fairly applied. If a game is won or lost when an umpire calls a strike but the pitch clearly skidded on the ground in front of home plate, you should be outraged no matter which team was at bat….”

“Given that the four members of this court in the majority today apparently think that the word “ ‘boneless’ ” means “ ‘you should expect bones,’ ”I’m sure it comes as no great surprise that they think that a constitutional amendment to “ban partisan gerrymandering” means to “require[] gerrymander[ing].” While the majority’s Amelia Bedelia approach to the law and the absurdity of the majority’s conclusions might make you laugh, it should also make you outraged. Everyone should be outraged by today’s decision, regardless of whether one thinks the proposed constitutional amendment is a wonderful idea, a terrible idea, or anything in between….”

Justice Brunner:

“The majority opinion reflects an abject failure of this court to perform an honest constitutional check on the ballot board’s work. We should be requiring a nearly complete redrafting of what is perhaps the most stunningly stilted ballot language that Ohio voters will have ever seen. The ballot board’s actions, endorsed by a majority of this court, leave any objective observer scratching their head and asking, “Who’s in charge here—Ohio’s people or its politicians?”—which ironically is the essential issue the proposed constitutional amendment seeks to address….”

“Compounding the ballot board’s playing politics with the fundamental right of Ohioans to self-govern is this court’s majority’s complicity in allowing the ballot board’s language to be presented to Ohio’s voters. Ohioans have all political power reserved to themselves. And that power is not subordinate to the power of their elected officials but, rather, is denoted in the Constitution as inherently belonging to them. See Ohio Const., art. I, § 2….”

“Even when those elected and appointed officials deem unwise a proposal like the one before us today that takes back power from them, those public servants are duty-bound to fulfill their sworn oaths and present the proposal fairly to Ohio voters.

What the ballot board has done here is tantamount to performing a virtual chewing of food before the voters can taste it for themselves to decide whether they like it or not. Elected leaders may not taint a proposal in an effort to persuade the voters to like it or dislike it. That is why the Constitution forbids ballot language that “mislead[s], deceive[s], or defraud[s] the voters,” Ohio Const., art. XVI, § 1….”

“The proposed amendment aims to end in Ohio the practice of powerful government officials drawing legislative lines that effectively entrench their own political power at the expense of fair electoral competition…..Ohio voters deserve accurate information so that they will know what they are being asked to vote on. This court’s role is to ensure that the ballot language for the proposed amendment is not misleading, deceiving, or defrauding. The unwillingness of a majority of this court to act constitutionally fails Ohio voters.”

Do Something!

Folks, these dissents received three votes. But were outvoted by the four Republican Justices who upheld a ballot full of deceitful language.

As long as they maintain that 4-3 majority (or worse), we essentially have no rule of law in the State of Ohio. The corrupt politicians can do whatever they want.

Do you want those three justices to become a majority in less than two months? Because it’s up to us!

If so, as I wrote yesterday, PLEASE help Justices Donnelly and Stewart succeed in their re-election efforts. And help Judge Lisa Forbes win her race. If all three win, we FLIP THE COURT.

Please give what you can to their efforts. (We raised almost $10K to support them just yesterday….please keep it going):

Please HELP flip the Court

And Vote Yes on Issue 1 — counter to the misleading ballot language, it will BANISH partisan gerrymandering once and for all (as long as we elect an Ohio Supreme Court that will respect the will of the voters and the rule of law.) And it will fire the corrupt politicians from the process.

Please DONATE HERE  to help flip this court from the current majority to a fair court that will respect the law and the will of the people.

Then share this email so others do the same.

Thank you.

Trina Prufer: The hidden objective of SB 342 (Reform Legislation) and its DELIBERATE muddling in the ORC.

The hidden objective of SB 342 (Reform Legislation) and its DELIBERATE muddling in the ORC. 

By Trina Prufer 

September 15, 2024  

This is but ONE example of STRS INTENTIONALLY misleading membership and follows a pattern that permeates the system to this day.

When I am up at night, I ponder how in the world I was so misled by STRS. Why did I not know, in 2012, that that the 3% annual automatic cola had been taken away permanently?

Would this knowledge have made a difference? ABSOLUTELY! For one thing, beginning in 2012, I would have made every attempt conserve financial resources, understanding that inflation would progressively eat away at the benefit throughout my lifetime.

So how was I deceived? It happened because STRS and the State Legislature hid from members the true intent of the legislation, which was to take away the cola permanently. The most significant aspect of the legislation was contained in the INTENT STATEMENT, hidden from view unless you had access to a law library or knew how to navagate the recesses of the internet.

The ORC cola statute was purposely written to be ambiguous and confusing. It is important to understand the STARK CONTRAST between the bill as written and its codification in ORC 3307.67.

Below is the Intent Statement in the bill and the reform version of ORC 6607.67, the cola statute. Please read very carefully, sections D and E. Section D states: ”shall not make the increases”, which is easy to understand (no cola). Section E (the most SIGNIFICANT aspect of the legislation), uses the words: “may adjust the increase payable” which had previously been defined in the statute as 2%. Without having any knowledge of the Intent Statement, this reads as if the increase begins at 2% as its base, and applies to granting a cola above 2%. In fact, this remains a valid interpretation of the bill.

The language in the statute COULD have been made CRYSTAL CLEAR ( as it was in the INTENT STATEMENT) but was not… DELIBERATELY.

Nowhere in this bill does it say OUTRIGHT that those who retired prior to 2O12 no longer had the legal guarantee of a 3% annual automatic cola, as agreed to by contract and state statute (3307.42), in accordance with the pension model that had been in affect since 2002. That was BY DESIGN to keep members from realizing the truth earlier, and it cost us dearly. What about those who retired after 2012, who might have taken the PLOP had they only known the truth?

Everyone in the STRS ecosphere prospers, except teachers. That‘s because STRS does not have to pay members what is owed. That was the plan… from the onset.