Chris Tobe: Columbus: The Highest Public Salaries in America — and Ohio Teachers are Paying for It

By Chris Tobe, October 31, 2025

In a shocking irony, the highest-paid public employees in the United States are not Governors, Presidents or Cabinet officials— but staff at the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS), based in Columbus, Ohio.

Teachers, meanwhile, have been denied modest cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for years, told the fund “can’t afford it.”

At the same time, investment staff in that same building are pocketing Wall Street–level pay — and the Ohio Attorney General’s office is spending taxpayer money protecting the excess in a sham trial going on this week.

1. A Two-Tier System of Public Servants

STRS is one of the largest public pensions in America, managing about $90 billion for active and retired teachers.
Yet in 2024 alone, according to Ohio’s official Checkbook transparency portal, the system paid out staggering salaries:

• 4 employees earned over $600,000.
• 20 employees earned over $400,000.
• 49 employees earned over $300,000.
• 85 employees earned over $200,000

STRSsalaries2024.csv.

By comparison, the average Ohio teacher earns $68,000, with many retirees living on less than $45,000 per year — without a COLA.

In 2019, STRS had only one employee earning over $600,000. By 2024, there were four, with salaries and bonuses doubling or tripling across multiple positions.
The growth wasn’t driven by investment success — STRS underperformed comparable funds, ranking in the bottom quartile nationally — but by internal decisions to inflate pay and bonuses.

2. The “Lawfare” Campaign: How Reform Was Crushed

Read the rest here.