Cathy Steinhauser to STRS board: "Shared sacrifice in this scenario should be applied…that’s called being ethical and it’s also legal. STRS reminds me of this line, “Money for me but not for thee.”…absolutely disgraceful!"

Cathy Steinhauser’s Public Participation speech August 18, 2026

Cathy Steinhauser – 35 yrs. satellite teacher of Family & Consumer Sciences through Pickaway/Ross CTC for Circleville City Schools.

Sorry to have disappointed you the last 3 board mtgs. (insert sarcasm here) by not attending, but when crisis occurs in families, you pay attention to what matters in life at that moment.  But I’m back and lucky for you I’m ready to dive head first into the ridiculous and absurd antics of STRS.

I listened to yesterday’s Zoom mtg., as well as the past 3 mtgs. I missed, and was amazed once again at the amount of self-serving entitlement within this pension.  This institution seems to feel that hired workers here deserve more than the teachers who through their blood, sweat and tears worked for 30-35+ yrs. in a classroom and are the entity that actually pay your salaries. You feel more deserving of up to 6 figure bonuses in past yrs. while teachers have had to wait for crumbs to be dropped by way of a COLA a handful of times in 13 yrs. It reminds me of Oliver Twist in “Oliver!” when he asks “Please Sir, I want some more.”

Teachers shouldn’t have to beg their own pension to restore a given right. We’ve had to tighten our belts to the point that there are no more holes left in our belts to notch while your belt seems to loosen more as the years go by.  Shared sacrifice in this scenario should be applied…that’s called being ethical and it’s also legal. STRS reminds me of this line, “Money for me but not for thee.”…absolutely disgraceful! 

You talked about board members who ask for information which may or may not need an outside person for clarity… i.e. pay someone to find that information one way or another.  Yet you have a budget that keeps increasing every year by millions!

Even the ORSC recommended you rein in your spending! You borderline-belittled a member of this board who wants to save time and asks for a listing of staff members and their specialty areas so that they can contact them directly instead of emailing several then waiting to see what information is offered.

Many pensioners are tired of how you throw around the word FIDUCIARY in a manner that neither begins to abide by what it actually means. I have spent countless speeches the past 5 years explaining what this word means and you still insist that it applies to the staff at STRS first. Nothing says frustration like saying the same things over and over again and you’re ignored.

Let’s try this again since it’s been a while:

FIDUCIARY: “A person who acts on behalf of another person or persons, putting their client’s interests ahead of their own, with a duty to preserve good faith and trust. Being a fiduciary requires being bound both LEGALLY AND ETHICALLY to act in others' best interests”.

NO 2% or 3% COLA, NO BONUSES!