Karen Loeffler to STRS board: "... the primary obligation of the board and the STRS management must remain their fiduciary responsibility to provide benefits for the members. All else is secondary."

Karen Loeffler's speech to STRS board

April 16, 2026

STRS Board Meeting 04/16/2026

My name is Karen Loeffler. I retired in July 2012 from Pickerington Local School District, with 30 years experience as a high school classroom teacher and as a middle school counselor. I also spent countless hours as a volunteer in Pickerington, in a variety of capacities. I’m fortunate that I can be here. That I’m healthy enough, and live close enough, that attending a board meeting simply costs me gas money, and my time. Not everyone has that opportunity, and I am grateful that I do. And so I feel an obligation to be here, to represent in some way, and advocate for, those retirees and active teachers who cannot be here, either physically or virtually.

There have been a lot of words used in board meetings and STRS publications. Words like investments, salary incentives, bonuses, stakeholders, profits and losses, and the oft-repeated ‘fiduciary”. But the word to which I have kept returning, as I contemplate the events of the past few years, is “trust”. According to Merriam-Webster, “Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. It acts as a confident hope or reliance on a person’s character or a system’s, often, it involves placing responsibility for safety/well-being in another's care. Legally, it is a fiduciary relationship managing assets for a beneficiary.”

Trust is, and must be, the cornerstone of what we do. As a school counselor, I had to create trust with my students, in order to be effective in working with them. I had to build trust with the staff, especially when I could not share everything I knew with them, due to confidentiality issues. The same issues extended to the administrators and parents, with whom I had to build that trusting relationship.

Building a trusting relationship takes a lot of effort and commitment, over time. But trust can be destroyed in a heartbeat, and, once lost, is difficult to repair. In my view, this is one of the most critical issues for me right now. I feel much trust has been lost. Some members don’t trust the management of STRS, some don’t trust board members, some actives don’t trust retirees and vice versa, and there is a significant lack of trust on the part of the members toward the legislature and the governor.

This, then, to me, is one of the most critical tasks facing us: the restoration of trust, which requires openness and transparency, and the willingness to truly listen to each other. But the primary obligation of the board and the STRS management must remain their fiduciary responsibility to provide benefits for the members. All else is secondary.

Suzanne Laird lays it to the STRS board: "This Board has a very serious problem. Mr. Saperstein was merely the messenger."

Suzanne Laird's speech to STRS board

April 16, 2026

Good Afternoon, Members of MY Board:

You may start your timer now.

Red flag.

Yesterday, I listened with interest as Mr. Saperstein patiently explained the results of the member survey to this Board.

Survey says: no one, active or retired, trusts or has confidence in STRS. Survey says: no one believes STRS manages expenses prudently.

Fiduciary, fiduciary, fiduciary (thanks, Cathy Steinhauser).

And yet, some Board members pushed back, asking if the comments were “cherry picked” or claiming “When I’m out in the field, I only get positive feedback.” We have to “educate them.” “The number one misunderstood issue is the PBI.”

How insulting! We understand all too well projecting 12 MILLION dollars in PBIs, while we get a 1.6 percent projected COLA. We understand hiring another communications person when we have demanded a freeze on hiring. We understand when you agreed yesterday to hand employees airline points for their own personal use, earned while on business trips for STRS. We understand someone blithely mentioning an 8 and a half percent INCREASE in the budget, but we just “can’t manage a 2 percent COLA” again this year.

Almost as insulting as last month, when guest speakers, Tweedledum and Tweedledee claimed vouchers are a “complicated” process we teachers, “who don’t work as many days as others,” can possibly understand.

We understand our pathetic COLA doesn’t stand a chance against last month’s 3.3% inflation. Or the cost of gas to drive here. We understand that, and yet are able to complete a survey about STRS while focusing only on STRS. It is arrogant to claim the survey takers were confused by other issues, and I thank the 3 of you who were honest enough to call out staff members on using the “misunderstood” terminology and admit that the fault, dear Brutus, lies within.

This Board has a very serious problem.

Mr. Saperstein was merely the messenger.

Don’t shoot us for speaking truth.