Trina Kay Prufer: A Public Retirement System Cannot Work for Members if it is Designed to Fail

By Trina Kay Prufer

July 19, 2025

A Public Retirement System Cannot Work for Members if it is Designed to Fail

"STRS is a failure because RULES and LAWS did not apply to the STRS system. STRS was allowed to spend itself into enormous debt. Laws were re-written (2012 “reform“ legislation) transferring this debt onto members. This was all by design."

By looking at the total picture of STRS as a public retirement system, it will never live up to its name. It loses money every day. That is by design.

A retirement system can only fulfill its obligations if the underlying financial structure pays for benefits. STRS cannot do this because its input ( employer + employee + investment income) is less than outflow. The losses turn into debt, and the interest on the debt is enormous. Adding insult to injury, management costs are treated as if they have nothing to do with outflow (the “drop in the bucket” rational). WASTE is everywhere.

Retired teachers must live on a diminishing benefit, even though their invested contributions continue to make money for the system. Those who work for the system prosper. STRS cannot or will not pay what it owes to retirees, and the law allows this to happen. In essence, STRS is a state-run scam.

What does a healthy, normal public retirement system look like? It is actuarially sound. The law protects the benefit in effect at the TIME of retirement. The benefit is PRE-FUNDED. Promises are kept. There is real oversight. The KEY element is that the state underwrites the benefit, assuring there is a mechanism for monitoring the system, and the system is run for the benefit of members.

If the above sounds familiar… just read the pre-2012 ORC and plan booklets provided to these same retirees. It’s all there...however, these essential protections were conveniently ignored.

STRS is a failure because RULES and LAWS did not apply to the STRS system. STRS was allowed to spend itself into enormous debt. Laws were re-written (2012 “reform“ legislation) transferring this debt onto members. This was all by design.