Dan MacDonald to STRS board: "...feet need to be held to the fire and actives and retirees need to be placed first in the minds of everyone working at STRS – not partnership as in OPERS, but as the OWNERS of STRS."

Dan MacDonald's speech to STRS board

April 17, 2025

Mr. Chair and members of the Board, good morning/afternoon. I am Dan MacDonald, an STRS retiree with 38 plus years of service. I am also the Executive Director of Local 279R, Northeast Ohio AFT retirees. Happy Passover and/or Easter. It is good to be back in front of you. December 2024 was my last public participation and that seems a lifetime away. 

Tariffs seem to be the word of the month. I’m sure our investment department is grappling with the spigot that turns them on, off, spray, pour, up, down. I’ve personally gotten two calls from very senior STRS retirees asking if their STRS monthly pension is safe. I have no idea of what an active is thinking with their 401s and other accounts. I know I am 79 and I’ve lost retirement money which would have been used for “the home” once I can’t take care of myself.    

With all this in mind, STRS Ohio now has a new direction with its Asset-Liability study completed and voted and marching directions given to the investment staff. Yet everyone still acknowledges the cash flow problem is still a huge concern. The proposed fiscal 2026 budgets should be presented soon. OPERS is still paying a COLA. I suggest that STRS staff not have a merit-based raise this year but wait until their retirement within OPERS – whose mantra is  “A Partner in Your Future. 

Will the External Management Expenses be addressed in the next budget since they are approximately 6 times internal management expenses which manages $60 billion versus external management $30 billion? These figures are STRS’s own figures presented May 16, 2024.  

Pensions and Investments had an article on April 8, 2025, titled “Reformers took a majority of the State Teachers board. Now their overhaul efforts are fizzling in the face of reality.”  Although I didn’t agree with the whole assessment because I see slight changes in the staff’s presentations, feet need to be held to the fire and actives and retirees need to be placed first in the minds of everyone working at STRS – not partnership as in OPERS, but as the OWNERS of STRS. 

As always, actives need their benefits enhanced and retirees need their COLA restored. [I observed that from the past couple years to the present wasn't shown; were these up or down?]