Melissa Cropper: "We’ll also be fighting like hell to hold each and every representative who voted for this budget accountable, not just in general elections but in primary elections too, and not just in the next election year but for the rest of their political careers."

From Melissa Cropper,

President of OFT,

To Chad Smith, 

Newly elected STRS board member

Dear Chad,

I’m writing to you with more details about one of the harmful policies that was slipped into the Ohio budget – changing the composition of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board – and why it’s an attack on all public employees in Ohio.

Currently, the STRS Board has seven members who are elected by the STRS membership (five contributing members and two retirees) and four appointed members. The other four public employee pension systems in Ohio also have boards where the majority of seats are held by elected representatives.

In the very final stage of the budget process, Republican leadership, under the direction of Speaker Matt Huffman and Senate President Rob McColley, inserted a proposal from Rep. Adam Bird that changes the STRS Board to add four new appointed positions and remove four elected positions, creating a board that will eventually have eight appointed members and only three elected members. This policy was not in the Governor’s budget, the House’s budget, or the Senate’s budget, which means it was passed with absolutely no hearings and no public participation.

This provision applies to STRS only. While Ohio’s other pension funds are not directly affected by this policy change, legislators are sending a very clear message to those funds, including OPERS and SERS: if you elect representatives who make decisions we disagree with, we’ll take over your pension fund.

This is a targeted attack on educators that follows a long campaign of misinformation, anonymous allegations, and politicized investigations against elected members of the STRS Board. The root cause of these attacks is that entrenched administrators and politicians want STRS to keep doing business as usual, while STRS members have elected board members who challenged the status quo by questioning STRS’s investment policies and decisions about member benefits. As a reminder, the status quo was that retirees were not receiving regular cost of living adjustments and active members needed 34 years of service for a full retirement (and that was on the verge of being increased to 35 years).

Thanks to the work of elected board members, including OFT members Julie Sellers, Liz Jones, and Pat Davidson, progress has been made on both of these issues while still keeping the system fiscally sound. Board members have pledged to keep fighting for more COLAs and more reductions to the years of service requirement. Disenfranchising STRS members and taking away our elected representatives, will hurt our ability to keep making improvements.

In 1952, bank robber Willie Sutton was famously quoted as saying he robbed banks “because that's where the money is." With STRS holding more than $90 billion in assets – and the other Ohio pension funds holding billions and billions more – it is no surprise that legislators want to exert more control over these funds.

But it’s our retirement, not theirs. We are outraged by this politician takeover of our pension and we won’t accept it without a fight. We are in discussions with our national partners at AFT to explore our legal options.

We’re also looking into a proactive legislative strategy to defend our elected STRS Board seats. In mid-August, after we’ve worked out a few more details, we’ll be contacting you with more details on legislative action and outreach to legislators. Please keep an eye for that update. We’ll need all OFT members, local unions, and allies to take action.

Additionally, prior to this budget passing, we’ve been working with the Ohio AFL-CIO to start a public pensions coalition to defend the rights and retirement security of all Ohio public employees – work that is even more urgent now.

We’ll also be fighting like hell to hold each and every representative who voted for this budget accountable, not just in general elections but in primary elections too, and not just in the next election year but for the rest of their political careers. If you are interested in staying up to date on OFT’s political mobilization efforts, you can opt-in to regular email updates here.

I also want to share this op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch, written by Bill Boone, President of the Berea Federation of Teachers and Chair of OFT’s Retirement Committee: STRS Board was a victim of a hostile takeover. Teachers like me are at risk.

Finally, I want to highlight exactly which board seats are being eliminated. The timeline below shows how the composition of the Board will change over time. First, four new appointed positions will be added on September 28, 2025. Then, four elected positions will be phased out when the current terms expire. That means that in 2028, when all changes are complete, the only elected representatives will be the most recently elected Board members. That will have the effect of eliminating the board seats held by all three female board members, the only Black board member, and all three OFT members on the board. The three remaining board members are also members who we’ve supported in elections, including AAUP-AFT retiree Rudy Fichtenbaum.

STRS Board Timeline

Absent any legal challenges or legislative changes, this is how the STRS Board composition will change over time.

Through August 31, 2025 — 4 appointees and 7 elected (11 total). Elected members: Correthers, Sellers, Jones, Davidson, Flanigan, Fichtenbaum, Harkness,

September 1, 2025 - September 28, 2025 — 4 appointees and 7 elected (11 total). Elected members: Sellers, Jones, Davidson, Flanigan, Fichtenbaum, Harkness, Smith)

September 28, 2025 - August 31, 2026 — 8 appointees and 7 elected (15 total). Elected members: Sellers, Jones, Davidson, Flanigan, Fichtenbaum, Harkness, Smith)

September 1, 2026- August 31, 2027 — 8 appointees and 5 elected (13 total). Elected members: Davidson, Flanigan, Fichtenbaum, Harkness, Smith)

September 1, 2027 - August 31, 2028 — 8 appointees and 4 elected (12 total). Elected members: Flanigan, Fichtenbaum, Harkness, Smith)

September 1, 2028 - August 31, 2029 — 8 appointees and 3 elected (11 total). Elected members: Fichtenbaum, Harkness, Smith)

We will keep you updated on our efforts to stop this obscene legislative overreach. Please let us know if you have any questions.

In Solidarity,

Melissa Cropper, President

Ohio Federation of Teachers