My letter to the ORSC

May 10,2025

Subject: Hostile takeover?

To the members of the Ohio Retirement Study Council: the teachers of Ohio are extremely concerned that you are seriously considering taking over the control of the hard-earned money they have been putting into their pension system, STRS, for many years.

It is THEIR money, and should remain under THEIR control. How can you not see this as reasonable, especially since the teachers have already been fleeced over the years because of political actions that are only NOW coming to light?

Could it be because politicians have been benefiting from this largesse and see the TEACHERS' money as their own? It appears they have been stealing it for decades, to the point where active teachers (and their respective schools) must now pay more into the system than they will ever get out of it, and retirees are suffering every day from the 30% loss of their buying power during this highly inflationary era, since their promised-in-writing COLA was taken away from them!

What do you think this does to our economy? Try living on a retiree's pension for a week. I guarantee you will NOT like it. Try teaching in a public school for a week (on a meager teacher's salary). Maybe you will have a little more respect for what Ohio's teachers have had to live with. And yet you want to take over their pension system and control THEIR hard-earned money?

Ever hear of Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion? It simply states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, if object A acts a force upon object B, then object B will exert an opposite yet equal force upon object A.

I predict that there is a very good chance that Newton's Third Law of Motion may require a revision if you (object A) are successful in taking over control of the teachers' money (object B), because there are many thousands of teachers whose reaction to your action will be far greater than what Newton had in mind. I hope you are prepared.

On the other hand, a kind action on your part (restoring the retirees' COLA and approving a source of money that would bring the active teachers' contribution back down to what it should be, and also restore their 30 year retirement so they won't have to suffer in today's unspeakably appalling teaching environment any longer than necessary) will bring a very kind reaction your way. I suggest you back down NOW on any thoughts about taking over control of the teachers' pension money. I just fear the reaction won't be pretty otherwise. The choice is yours.

Katherine B. Bracy

Retired teacher, Columbus City Schools

(Address)

Columbus, OH 432xx