Trina Prufer: What Protections do Ohio’s Teachers have at the Time of Retirement?

From Trina Prufer

July 25, 2025

What Protections do Ohio’s Teachers have at the Time of Retirement?

The question must be asked: Is the base benefit protected when the State can change the ORC by simply attaching a rider onto a budget bill? We have already lost retirement security. What happens if our bare-bones pension has become an even greater bait and switch?

Ohio’s teachers have always been behind the eight ball. The defined-benefit pension was not guaranteed at the time of hire, but rather at the time of retirement. The right to the vested retirement benefit is NOT in the State Constitution.

Additionally, Ohio’s teachers do not pay into Social Security, the oversight committee (ORSC) acts more like a rubber stamp for the legislature and the system itself has free rein to WASTE billions on perks and Wall Street fees.

Structurally, the benefit is not pre-funded, the system loses money (by design) and there is no transparency in how the fund is managed.

At the present time, the only member protection remaining is the right to receive the base benefit throughout the lifespan. But is this really protected? We have seen the state legislature change the composition of the STRS board through a vote taken in the dead of night. If laws and democratic protections can be so easily changed, there are no laws. They don’t apply to Ohio’s teachers.

The question must be asked: Is the base benefit protected when the State can change the ORC by simply attaching a rider onto a budget bill? We have already lost retirement security. What happens if our bare-bones pension has become an even greater bait and switch?