NOTE: To find the most current posts, please scroll down to the two big red arrows. You can't miss them.

STRS Ohio Watchdogs: a public Facebook group you can join

STRS OHIO WATCHDOGS

by Cindy Murphy

STRS Ohio Watchdogs monitor the management and investment practices of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.

We advocate for prudent and transparent investments, the restoration of the COLA for retired teachers, and the rollback of additional years of service required for active teachers.

This site will provide you with information about the work that is being done by Ohio's active and retired teachers to preserve our retirement benefits. Check back often for updates.

Join our conversation on Facebook. You don't have to be a member of STRS Ohio to join. Everyone who is interested in learning more about the management and investment practices of STRS Ohio is welcome.

Use this link to join our pack on Facebook:.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ohiostrswatchdogs 

Have you joined the Ohio STRS Member Only Forum on Facebook?

If you are a member of STRS Ohio and have a Facebook account, you are eligible to join thousands of others who make up the Ohio STRS Member Only Forum. This is a closed group of retirees and actives who are advocating for the return of our COLA, which, as you no doubt know, your STRS Board SUSPENDED on April 20, 2017. Two of our members, Bob Buerkle and Dean Dennis, filed a class action lawsuit against STRS on May 23, 2019 suing for the reinstatement of our COLA. The text of the lawsuit can be found on this blog. You can go here to join the Forum and sign the petition, already signed by more than 20,000 people, for the return of our COLA: Ohio STRS Member Only Forum

Click image to enlarge

Angel of Grief

Garrison Keillor

Items of interest in the Archives: The 2013 STRS Board Election

Many people have been very interested in reading about the irregularities of the 2013 STRS board election. There are many posts related to this topic, beginning the first week of April 2013, after the ballots were mailed to retirees from STRS. You can find them by going to the Archives for this blog, over in the right sidebar, and clicking on dates beginning with April 7, 2013. Dennis Leone announced his candidacy for a retired seat in November, 2012. There is a lot of information about him in the Archives, beginning with November 12, 2012 posts. If you want to read only the best stuff about that infamous election of 2013, go over to the sidebar on the right of where you are now, which is the archives of previous articles on this blog. Scroll down to April 2013. That's where the "interesting" articles begin. You will see many, clear up to the middle of May 2013.5/28/13

.....so what REALLY happened in 2003 that touched off a firestorm at STRS that is still smoldering today? Read it here, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. (Hint: It ain't over yet!)

More here (Akron Beacon Journal, 2003)

A MUST READ: Dennis Leone Reform Initiatives as an STRS Board Member  Between 2005 and 2009

To find current, day-to-day posts -- pull your scroll bar down a ways, just below the big red arrows (you can't miss them). Thanks.

............................................................................................

Find your state representative and senator here.

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/

I know, it's weird.........

Many posts that appear "at the top" for a while are eventually moved down, where they can be found under their original posting dates. Also, if you are confused by the postdating, this is done to keep these posts up there; otherwise, they drift down when new posts are added. It's a "blog thing" which I have no other way to control. KB

Handy links: Contacts, information and more (short version)
This is an abbreviated version of the original 'Handy links' post. Click here to view a more complete list. (Some of it is old.)

STRS Board.....STRS website

Board calendar

E-mail contacts at STRS (old, but some may still work)

Map/directions to STRS, 275 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43215

STRS "Membership Survey" (spoof)
State legislators.......State of Ohio website

Latest OEA salaries (2011) over 100K; USDL report

Rich DeColibus' PowerPoint presentation STRS' PBI Program; Does it work?: click December 21, 2008 (blog Archive) and scroll down to December 23 posts.

Charts: PBI (bonus) payments

Popular links; click, then scroll down: charts, graphs, investment staff, lists, spreadsheets

$TR$ Inve$tment $taff $$$ (old)

SPECIAL (must read):

Dennis Leone's INVESTIGATIVE REPORT on STRS: May 16, 2003...Who is Dennis Leone?........(PDF version)...More on Dennis Leone .......(PDF version)

Dennis Leone: "Catcher of Thieves"

Dennis Leone's STRS Report to ORTA, March 2007

Dennis Leone's Testimony at the Statehouse 9/5/12
The Plain Dealer article that started it all

Dennis Leone: Factors Driving STRS 30-Year Planning and Revenue Assumptions (with charts)

Historic PBI vote, January 16, 2009

Charts: PBI (bonus) payments

CURRENT POSTS BELOW

More insights from Trina: The Example STRS Sets for Every Public Pension System in the Nation

From Trina Prufer 

June 29, 2025

All eyes should be on the State of Ohio for the precedent it has set in exploiting educators. If other public pension systems were to copy its practices, they would destroy the public pension system in the US. 

Below are some examples: 

1. In Ohio, teachers have no guarantees whatsoever that the retirement plan will be followed. The benefit is not protected by the state constitution, the retirement contract, the law or as a property right. In effect, the type of retirement system STRS operates under is called a “gratuity” pension, which means a gift.
2. The very definition of a defined-benefit has been turned upside down. A public pension defined-benefit is commonly understood to NOT have any financial risk for the member. Paradoxically, an STRS “defined-benefit” is only “defined” by its contribution rate. The payout phase is ALL risk, with the payment of a COLA dependent on something called the “ integrity“ of the system, which does not have a definition. 
3. There is little to no oversight by the State that STRS operates for the benefit of members. Although that responsibility has been assigned to the Ohio Retirement Study Council, audits do not happen on time, half of its scheduled meetings are canceled and obvious transgressions, such as a million dollars wasted on fine art are rationalized as being acceptable.
4. The contribution rate for active teachers is 14%, which is higher than the normal cost of the benefit, which is 11%. The contribution rate for the employer is 14%. The financial model is inadequate to pay obligations and the system pays out more than it takes in. The financial model is designed to fail.
5. All statutes governing STRS can be changed by the stroke of a pen, dependent on the whims of the state legislature and the political party in the majority. 

In fact, its governance structure was just radically changed from member majority to political appointee majority, taking away stakeholders’ ability to have meaningful input. This change was made in the dead of night and as a rider to a budget bill. There was no input from members, no study of its possible consequences and no concern for turning STRS into a sham retirement system. 

STRS is now being run for the benefit of the State, its employees, politicians and Wall Street. Because Ohio is a non-Social Security State, older retirees were made reliant on the benefit assured at the time of retirement. In 2012, the Ohio Legislature determined that pension obligations can be changed after the fact if necessary to “sustain” the system. What followed is that classroom teachers, who were promised an automatic 3% COLA at the time of retirement, must now live on a meager benefit that diminishes with inflation. 

An STRS defined-benefit does not prevent poverty, it creates it. Ohio’s weak (or lack of) pension protections have allowed the state legislature to enrich the coffers of politicians and legalize the theft of members’ contributions. If left to stand, and used as an example for other public pension systems to follow, the defined-benefit model will be dead. Ohio has led the country in exploiting the inadequacies of pension law and impoverishing the very workers its public pension systems were designed to protect.

Trina Kay Prufer

6/29/2025

David Pepper: UPDATE: The Overnight Coup by Politicians Over Teachers/Retirees, and $90B!

A Brutal/Sneak Attack on Democracy and Retirees

By David Pepper
Jun 27, 2025

As painful as it is, I often journey to the Ohio statehouse to witness for myself just what a broken, cynical, anti-democratic, out-of-touch and lawless place it is. Years of gerrymandering—entire careers spent with no accountability to the voters but non-stop support from lobbyists and deep-pocketed big shots—have made it this way.

Sadly, every time I visit the statehouse, my expectations for bad behavior are always met.

But no behavior has been worse than what just happened with the state teachers’ pension board—an outright coup over the control of a board that oversees $90B.

Specifically, after 1 a.m. two nights ago, the politicians from the nation’s most corrupt statehouse disenfranchised Ohio teachers and retirees from controlling the pension fund they built and on which they rely.

Instead, the politicians’ picks will now dominate the board, and three years of election results will be wiped out through this one sneak attack.

It’s a travesty as matter of democracy. Potentially lawless. And a case study of how gerrymandered politicians (and this spans way beyond Ohio) behave when monied interests demand something.

Here are the ugly details:

My May Statehouse Field Trip

Some of you may remember that in May, I drove to Columbus to watch what may have seemed like a very dry meeting.

I was there to observe a subcommittee of Ohio’s Retirement Study Council, where two presentations were made about the composition of pension boards around the country.

Serious presentations and thoughtful questions—looking specifically at “Teacher Retirement Boards.” You can even see the slide deck here.

Background: A Clash of Two Visions

I explained at the time that what looked like a ho-hum public meeting had major consequences and importance, because for years there’s been a struggle between two different visions among the board about how the $90B pension fund (called STRS) should be managed.

On one side are “reformers” who believe the fund should “switch to index funding;”  on the other, a faction that wants to stick with a model of “actively managing the funds,” which also comes with higher fees. “Reformers” also want “a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The COLAs were suspended for more than 150,000 retired Ohio teachers for five years starting in 2017. They were reinstated, but there has been a suspension of increases, significant for retirees who need this money and are dealing with inflation.”

I don’t have a dog in the fight, but teachers and retirees do because: 1) their years of hard work and contributions built the pension fund to its $90B+; 2) they rely on the pension for their economic well-being; and 3) (until this week) they elect seven of the board’s 11 members (the other four are appointees).

A Winning Streak for the Reformers

Over the past several years, including this past May, elections were held for seats on this teachers pension board. The voters in these elections are either active teachers, or retirees. And for a number of elections in a row, the voters in these elections delivered decisive victories for the “reformer” candidates. In fact, the “reformers” have won so much, it’s sparked a sea change in the overall board, flipping the board majority itself.

That’s how democracy works, right?

But in America’s most corrupt state, things are never so straightforward.

Specifically, ever since the “reform” side started winning a few years ago, irregular things have happened right around election time (often after the votes are cast and before the results are announced) to thwart the outcome.

Two years ago, days before a “reformer” victory was announced, Governor DeWine unilaterally fired his own appointee to the board, who also had emerged as a “reformer.” DeWine’s last-minute maneuver denied the “reformers” the majority they would have earned when the election outcome was announced a day later. (Courts later held that DeWine's termination of that member—which he said was due to absenteeism, a lie that was quickly debunked—violated Ohio law, but he’s never been held accountable for this egregiously illegal act).

Then, the next year, days before the next election results were announced, Attorney General Dave Yost filed an action in court to remove two “reformers” from the board (based on allegations from a last-minute anonymous memo sent to DeWine, again, right around election time). Days later, it was announced that another “reformer” won that election—so even the court case and memo couldn’t stop the “reformers” from taking over the board majority.

And this past May, two more “reformer” candidates won elections.

Which of course came around the time I went to that statehouse hearing, as the Columbus politicians—having failed to undo election outcomes they’ve been defying for years—all of a sudden have an interest in simply upending the composition of this pension board. Why undo individual election results when you can just eliminate those elected seats outright?

And the politicians hadn’t been shy that that’s what they had in mind. Adam Bird, the chair of the subcommittee meeting I watched in May, had previously said: “I'm concerned that the STRS current composition of 7 teachers and 4 appointed investment experts appears to be imbalanced, which can lead to a perception of lack of fiduciary responsibility.” Another member proposed a reduction in teacher representatives last summer, shortly after the majority flipped, insulting retirees by saying: “We need retirees' input but people need to have logic and common sense.”

The Toledo Blade, which has watched this for years more closely than any other newspaper,  ripped these proposals, calling them out for what they clearly are:

“The General Assembly’s plan for elected members of the State Teachers Retirement System board appears to be, “If you can’t beat them, eliminate them.” The Ohio House Pension Committee has begun the process to change the composition of the STRS board with the goal of eliminating elected active and retired teachers from control of the fund.

It’s an undemocratic power play and totally unfair to teachers if they are the only pension singled out for legislation to restructure the board.”

Amen.

Just the Beginning…

So that’s the backdrop that inspired me to drive up to that May meeting.

But as I explained, it turned out to be a dry, civil meeting. The presentations laid out a wide variety of governance options used by different state pension systems, and the legislators asked general questions about those options. To the best of my recollection, lawmakers engaged in no discussion or conversation of specific proposals or suggestions for the make-up of the Ohio teachers’ pension board. Certainly no consensus or proposal or bill emerged, nor any schedule of when one might appear. And when that May meeting ended, the distinct impression left was that this was the beginning of a long conversation.

But to make sure I hadn’t remembered this incorrectly, I asked a state legislator who served on that retirement committee and was at that meeting if he remembered things as I did. I specifically asked Sean Brennan, a highly respected state rep. and retired high school teacher—who’s in the upper right of the photo above—if any specific proposals had ever come from this group.

His answer: “Never!”

So, while I left as concerned as I was when I arrived, it felt like this would be a drawn-out deliberation, with future opportunities for many to weigh in through the formal lawmaking process, including required committee hearings, the opportunity for proponents and opponents to testify, etc. In particular, I left confident that the 500,000 Ohioans who rely on this pension, many of whom have been voting for reform all this time, would have an opportunity to object to any effort to disenfranchise them.

The Sneak Attack

And then came this week, and this story….which someone sent to me first thing Wednesday morning.

At the last minute, stuffed into overnight deliberations (literally, 1 a.m.) of the the 6-person Ohio budget “conference committee” (3 Ohio house members and 3 Ohio Senate members), came a provision wholly unrelated to the budget, and which had appeared in neither the House nor the Senate budgets that passed earlier in the process. (The “conference committee” exists to reconcile difference in the two bodies’ approved budgets).

As the headline above suggests, this middle-of-the-night amendment involved the makeup of the teacher pension fund’s board. And with no notice or hearings or committee deliberations or feedback from anybody, the proposal executed a takeover of the pension’s board by politicians’ appointees while eliminating the retirees/teachers collective control of their own pension.

Specifically, the board has been made up of 7 elected members (5 elected by current teachers, 2 by retirees) and 4 political appointees. This new provision inverted that makeup, to instead comprise 8 political appointees and just 3 elected members (and only one seat elected by retirees). Four of the current elected members will simply be eliminated when their terms expire, replaced by the politicians’ appointees. And the result of three years of retiree/teacher elections…nullified.

Bird, the guy who chaired the committee meeting I observed, who left the impression that the conversation was just beginning, took credit for getting this change snuck into a budget process in which it had never previously been discussed.

And he did so claiming that his committee, "[t]he Ohio Retirement Study Council[,] has a duty to inform and advise the state legislature, and we have done that regarding our view of the STRS Board composition."

But the truth is, I watched their meeting myself, and they did nothing of the sort!

Still, the sneak amendment passed out of that 6-person conference committee (around 1:30 a.m.), immediately was sent to the the Ohio Senate and Ohio House, where within hours—again with no opportunity to hear from anyone—the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of teachers and retirees passed on a party-line vote.

Truly a breathtaking coup.

Just as the Toledo Blade predicted: “an undemocratic power play”—both in its substance, and in its execution.

Back to Representative Brennan, the retired teacher who’s seen this all up close:

“The move to strip directly elected teacher and retiree representation from the STRS Board is deeply troubling—both in its substance and the way it was pushed forward. This structural overhaul was introduced without meaningful transparency, without stakeholder input, and without the careful vetting a change of this magnitude demands….Rather than strengthening the system, this proposal diminishes the voice of working educators and retirees—those who pay into and rely on STRS every day. Reducing the number of elected contributing and retired members and stacking the board with political appointees not only silences the voices of frontline educators, but risks turning this vital system into a tool for partisan control….

Any change to the STRS Board structure should be developed in the open, with robust public dialogue and participation from the people most affected. This is not reform—it’s a power grab.”

A Legal Wrinkle

After years of demanding and achieving change, retirees of all viewpoints are devastated. Their voices and votes eviscerated in this overnight sneak attack.

One final hope is that Governor DeWine can line item veto this amendment of the budget. That would clearly be the right thing to do. But given that he started the first domino of this mess with his illegal termination of a “reform” member a few years ago, that seems unlikely.

But there is perhaps one other opportunity to stop this.

I mentioned above that the “conference committee” process exists to reconcile differences between the Senate budget and the House budget. This has always meant that the only items to be raised and passed by the conference committee must be drawn from either the Senate or House budget.

But in this case, neither body’s budget included any provision on the makeup of the teachers’ pension board. So on this issue, there was nothing to reconcile. This was simply a blatant and illegitimate shoe-horning of a dramatic policy change into that conference committee process to avoid hearings, deliberation and criticism if this had advanced as a separate bill.

But this also means that this change did not go through the required legislative process of three hearings, proponent and opponent testimony, committee votes, and then full votes in both chambers.

None of that happened.

This is not only an undemocratic law. It’s a lawless law.

And if DeWine doesn’t veto it, someone should challenge the highly irregular and inappropriate way in which it was enacted.

Reminder: Ohio Statehouse Leads the Nation in Corruption

More broadly, this travesty is a blaring reminder of the overall, corrupt culture of Ohio politics at the moment.

Pay to play dominates the place. And pay to play often involves appointments to key government bodies and boards. For example, the First Energy scandal was kick-started by the Governor handing over control of the Public Utilizes Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to private industry and First Energy, only months after First Energy boosted the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s campaign efforts with millions in dark money.

And even as that scandal has played out for years—and is still playing out—no ethics reforms or other changes have ever been made.

And that is the context we should never forget as we weigh every decision about power in Ohio.

So when we see Ohio’s politicians breaking rules to rush through dramatic changes in early morning hours, to give themselves more appointments over a board that controls $90B, we should be on high alert.

Just as handing more pension power to politicians who’ve never shown an ounce of remorse for prior (and recent) pay-to-play scandals is about as bad as an idea could get.

Bottom line: teachers and retirees earned their voice in the governance of their own pension fund. They built it, they rely on it, and they have every right to demand change to how things are managed.

And they certainly have a right to have checks and balances to protect them against an Ohio political system with a long and ongoing track record of corruption.

As if we needed any more proof, the way this coup was pulled off is exactly why the politicians can not be trusted to control their pension.

Read this article online here.

Trina Prufer: What has happened here should be a wake-up call to all other public pension stakeholders in the nation.

Another Manufactured Crisis… Another Political Dirty Trick 

By Trina Prufer

June 28, 2025

There is something oddly familiar about this latest move by legislators to gain control of the STRS fund. It follows the same pattern as the passage of 2012 ”reform” legislation, which removed the state’s obligation to provide a 3% annual automatic COLA to pre-2012 retirees. Both pieces of legislation (current budget legislation and SB 342) violated the ORC and took away vital teachers’ rights by manufacturing crises to achieve political ends. 

If we go back in time to 2012, removing the automatic COLA from the benefit was done in the name of “sustaining” the ability of STRS to pay future benefits. Between 2002 and 2012, the 3% annual automatic COLA had been guaranteed by contract. In order to break the contract, the legislature used its POLICE POWERS to override the ORC, all in the name of acting in the best interest of the public. Additionally, at the time, articles were being published in the media that were anti-teacher. 

In retrospect, although the amount of the unfunded liability was certainly large, there were many solutions other than breaking the retirement contract. As Ohio is a non-Social Security state, the most obvious and fair solutions would have been increasing the employer contribution (which was in the ORC) and moving to a tiered benefit. 

Although there was never a need to put retirees in financial peril, no one would ever know this by reading the 2012 legislation. The “crisis” manufactured by the legislature was the falsehood that there were NO OTHER SOLUTIONS other than removing the COLA from the benefit; otherwise, it was claimed, STRS would essentially GO BANKRUPT, and be unable to pay future benefits. The use of the legislature’s police powers to negate the retirement contract was a dirty trick and not appropriate for a budgetary shortfall.  

Moving on to the current situation in which the Ohio Legislature just voted to remove the teacher majority on the STRS board, we see a similar political dirty trick at play. The ORC specifies that the board majority should be in the hands of stakeholders. In the state’s desire to change this, another crisis was manufactured resulting in politicians taking control of the board. This time it was the “boogey man” of a “hostile takeover” by special interests (as was claimed in an “anonymous” memo) that served as the rationale. 

The problem in this story line was that is was a complete fabrication. As is quite obvious, board members are ELECTED by stakeholders in free and fair elections. There was never a connection made between the “scary” special interest, hostile takeover folks, and the candidates running for the board. The “anonymous“ memo was written by STRS attorneys to facilitate the state taking control of the billions in the fund. 

As in the case of passing the 2012 reform bill, once again the media was utilized in presenting a false picture to the public. What happened next is what we have all seen play out. By using a controversial tactic (a dirty trick), the Ohio Legislature attached a rider to the current budget bill in the dead of night. Although it had nothing to do with the budget, it changed the law, taking the majority control away from educators, putting its billions in the hands of politicians to do as they see fit. 

The financial harm inflicted on Ohio’s teachers has been accomplished through deception and allegations of false crises. In reality, STRS is not a public teacher retirement system at all, as it does not represent the interests of teachers, and now only exists to benefit those in control at the state level. What has happened here should be a wake-up call to all other public pension stakeholders in the nation.

Angela Selar: This is the hostile takeover! It is by government and not QED or a reform board like the politicians and media want you to believe.

From Angela Selar

June 28, 2025

Members of the Ohio Retirement Study Counsel (ORSC), who recently called themselves a watchdog group for our pension, DIDN'T EVEN KNOW about any of this budget bill stuff!!!

This was not "open" change. This was an unvetted change brought forth at 1:00 am, 12 hours before the final vote, in a budget bill, when there is another bill already open to address changes to all 5 Ohio pensions. The language didn't even go through the all legislature members of the ORSC! This was a few doing doing calculated changes that is not reform.

This is the hostile takeover! It is by government and not QED or a reform board like the politicians and media want you to believe.

This is Sean Brennan's press release. He is a member of the ORSC and should have had included on this 11th hour amendment. People took it upon themselves to act alone!

https://ohiohouse.gov/members/sean-p-brennan/news/rep-brennan-criticizes-strs-board-overhaul-as-undemocratic-unvetted-134986

This pic quote was taken from this article:

https://www.cleveland.com/.../how-a-last-minute-budget...

ORTA's message to Governor DeWine and his supporters in the Ohio Legislature: Stop the Midnight Massacre of our pension system

Stop the Midnight Massacre of our pension system

Message to ORTA members

Writer: ORTA / Dr. Robin Rayfield, Executive Director

June 27, 2025

Greetings ORTA Members

The redesigned ORTA newsletter for June was ready for publication when the legislators dropped the nuclear bomb on Ohio educators by creating an amendment in the budget bill that stripped the elected members of the STRS board of their power. In a continued attack on public educators DeWine and his fellow republican colleagues have taken away teachers’ democratically elected majority from the STRS board.  So, like all teachers have done when the copier broke down or an assembly was called, ORTA changed our newsletter to bring everyone up to speed on what happened and what possible response options we have.

The Facts:

In the early hours of June 25, Ohio’s conference committee finalized a massive budget amendment—without public notice—that stripped four of seven educator-elected seats (five active teachers + two retirees) from the STRS board. These seats will not be refilled as current terms expire. That leaves only three elected educators, two active and one retiree—with the rest filled by political appointees. State Republicans, citing the recent QED corruption allegations and internal chaos, rushed the change through as part of the 5,500-page budget.

High-Level Summary

•  Stealth insertion into budget

◦ The change was slipped into the bill during late-night amendment sessions, bypassing earlier legislative debates.

•  Elected educator representation shrinks sharply

 ◦ Once all current terms end, only three educator-elected seats remain (two active, one retiree), down from seven 

•  Appointee seats increase

 ◦ Four educator seats shift to politically appointed roles: two by the treasurer, one each by legislative leaders, the governor, and education chancellor 

Why This Is Bad for Retired Teachers

1. Massive loss of representation

•  Retirees go from two voting seats to one, reducing their ability to advocate for retiree-specific needs. 

 •  Once current terms expire, there won't even be that minimal representation. No replacement = total sidelining 

2. COLA risk and financial harm

•  Retired educators depend on Cost-of-Living Adjustments to fight inflation. Reduced representation = weaker push for restoring full COLAs.

 •  Having lost about 20% purchasing power since 2020, weaker COLA advocacy directly hurts retirees in their daily lives.

3. Benefits sidelined by technical priorities

•  Appointees—many with financial or political backgrounds—do not have STRS members’ interests as priorities. Instead, they prioritize the demands of their political appointer. 

 •  Appointed STRS board members have, with one exception, supported the corruption at STRS including lavish benefits, unearned bonuses, and opulent facilities.

4. Democratic rollback

•  This move overturns the democratic voice retirees earned via elections—now decisions are made by executive appointees, not voters.

•  Retiree groups like ORTA and others warn that this is not only an attack on educators, but also an attack on democracy!

5. Dangerous precedent for future cuts

•  Using emergency narrative to dismantle elected oversight signals that retiree voices can be erased whenever crisis narratives are used.

 •  This sets a troubling standard—retiree representation can be removed on a whim, without public input.

Bottom Line: Retiree Impact

This isn't just a board reorganization, it’s a deliberate silencing of retiree voices in decisions that define their financial security. With appointments overshadowing elections, retirees could lose meaningful say in COLAs, healthcare, and benefit stability—deepening financial insecurity. Now, it's more critical than ever for retirees to mobilize, pressure legislators, litigate, and organize through ORTA and other groups to restore accountability and representation. 

What is so troubling is that 6 years ago ORTA met with the chair of the Ohio Retirement Study Council (the late Kirk Schuring) to discuss STRS member concerns. Mr. Schuring was very adamant, The problems at STRS can be solved by the STRS board. That is why the legislative body put total control of COLA in the hands of the STRS board. The members of STRS control their own board. If you want reform, elect reform minded board members.’

Guess what? STRS membership did just that. The membership of STRS, active teachers and retirees, elected 7 people that recognized changes at STRS were necessary. The process was slow and steady. The reform coalition went from 1 person to 2 people, to 5 people, finally to a majority with 6 people. Unfortunately, Governor DeWine illegally removed STRS board member Wade Steen. Mr. Steen fought in court to win his seat back, but it cost the reformers another year. After DeWine was embarrassed by a panel of judges that ruled, he had no authority to remove Steen, DeWine’s Attorney General (Dave Yost) charged 2 reform-minded STRS trustees and is attempting to get them removed. With no evidence to support Yost’s case against the reformers, the Republicans have now decided to eliminate the voice of teachers on their own pension board. A voice that has been in place for decades and decades! Other examples of the political elite attempting to stop reform at STRS include:

•  Failure to examine index-based investments would lead to better returns and lower costs because such an approach would cost investors the ability to collect unearned bonuses.

 •  Knowingly accepting a phony memo from STRS management declaring this memo to be anonymous. This memo IS THE BASIS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE ACTION TO CHANGE THE STRS BOARD

•  Denying the STRS board members' request for assistance with legal fees to defend themselves against the A.G.’s charges.  

If you read the newspapers, you might come to think that the STRS board is full of chaos created by reform-minded board members. The Dispatch and Cleveland papers provide one sided pictures of what is taking place at STRS. No doubt our free press has been purchased by the politicos that resort to sleazy tactics to get their agenda across the finish line anyway they can. What the print media and the politicians describe as chaos is what reform looks like. The recent refusal by STRS to ignore a court order to turn over investment documents will result in contempt charges against our pension. Seriously? When ordered to provide documents that would help to provide transparency, our pension prefers contempt charges? What are they hiding? Are other politicians involved in this? 

What Can ORTA Members Do?

With the budget bill on DeWine’s desk our time is very short. Here are a few actions that each STRS member can take:

•  Call DeWine’s office and ask him to veto the amendment changing the STRS board. Such legislation should be a stand-alone bill and be discussed in public with testimony from supporters and opponents. DeWine’s counselor can be reached at 614-995-1800 Laurel Dawson or email Laurel.Dawson@governor.ohio.gov. Call today and over the weekend. We must let DeWine know our thoughts.

•  ORTA is working to gather a coalition of stakeholder organizations in a effort to let the elected officials know that we will not stand for our voice to be silenced. More to come in the following days. 

Robin Rayfield

June 27, 2025

From John Curry: Lists of Ohio legislators who VOTED AGAINST TEACHERS this week

From John Curry

June 25, 2025

Last Minute Senate Budget Bill Proponents Who Stripped Democracy From Ohio Teachers

These Senators allowed the legislature to strip STRS ELECTED board members off the board in the future. DO NOT VOTE FOR THESE CLOWNS EVER....

List of Ohio House Members Who Voted Against Teachers...and FOR the midnight changes to the budget bill that removed elected STRS Board members while it added government appointed STRS Board members! PLEASE DON'T EVER VOTE FOR ANY OF THESE CLOWNS IN THE FUTURE!

Do any of them represent YOU?

Joe Lupo comment 6/25/25: "Today was not a good day for Ohio STRS members. The politicians in all their wisdom decided to make a bad situation even worse by legislating a hostile takeover of our pension system and stacking the board with their political appointees who have no vested interest in our retirement system."

 Joe Lupo on MOF 6/25/25 

AND THE FIGHT GOES ON...

Today was not a good day for Ohio STRS members. The politicians in all their wisdom decided to make a bad situation even worse by legislating a hostile takeover of our pension system and stacking the board with their political appointees who have no vested interest in our retirement system. They also restructured the board so their appointees will always be the board majority and officers of the board. The appointees will be paid and receive hospitalization while members continue to be victimized.

What they fail to realize is that their action does not resolve any of the issues and concerns that have been expressed by MOF members for over 8 years. They also fail to realize that they as the appointees and their appointments will now be our total focus.

This new focus will now be a part of our total mission. "MOF Mission 1" is completed and now what is known in the movie industry as a sequel "MOF Mission 2" begins today. I do not know nor have I talked to ORTA or the Ohio STRS Watchdogs, but I have the feeling they will also continue to the fight for what is right.

No justice...no peace.

Colleen Marshall's coverage of legislators pushing for hostile takeover of STRS board

June 25, 2025

By Colleen Marshall

Ohio lawmakers make last-minute teachers pension change to state budget

View Colleen Marshall's report on NBC4, with videos, here or here:

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/politics/ohio-lawmakers-make-last-minute-teachers-pension-change-to-state-budget/

You can read Morgan Trau's version of what's going on here.

Representative Patrick Brennan: This is not reform—it’s a power grab

Sean P. Brennan News

June 25, 2025 

Rep. Brennan Criticizes STRS Board Overhaul as Undemocratic, Unvetted

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan (D-Parma), a retired public school teacher and member of the House Pensions Committee and Ohio Retirement Study Council, today issued the following statement in response to a last-minute proposal to dramatically restructure the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board of Trustees: 

“The move to strip directly elected teacher and retiree representation from the STRS Board is deeply troubling—both in its substance and the way it was pushed forward. This structural overhaul was introduced without meaningful transparency, without stakeholder input, and without the careful vetting a change of this magnitude demands.

I have said all along: the structure of the STRS Board is not the fundamental problem. The issue is whether the right people are elected and appointed—people who are ethical, informed, and accountable to the members whose retirement security is at stake.

Rather than strengthening the system, this proposal diminishes the voice of working educators and retirees—those who pay into and rely on STRS every day. Reducing the number of elected contributing and retired members and stacking the board with political appointees not only silences the voices of frontline educators, but risks turning this vital system into a tool for partisan control.

Let me be clear: I believe in oversight and reform when necessary. But reform should mean better transparency, improved member communication, and evidence-based decision-making—not sidelining the very people who built and fund the retirement system. Any change to the STRS Board structure should be developed in the open, with robust public dialogue and participation from the people most affected. This is not reform—it’s a power grab,” said Rep. Brennan.

Steven Toole will be paid $405,000 annually as the incoming director of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, despite a divided board and impending legislative changes.

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/state/2025/06/27/strs-ohio-contract-steven-toole-teachers-retirement/84385506007/ 

By Laura Bischoff

Columbus Dispatch

August 25, 2025

STRS director signs guaranteed contract amid board turbulence

Steven Toole will be paid $405,000 annually as the incoming director of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, despite a divided board and impending legislative changes.

Toole's hiring is controversial, with only six of eleven board members supporting it and state lawmakers restructuring the board's control.

The contract includes a severance clause granting Toole a year's salary if terminated without cause, raising concerns about financial prudence.

The new director of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio will be paid $405,000 a year and can collect a year's salary if the incoming new board decides to terminate his contract.

Steven Toole, who will oversee a $95 billion portfolio, is scheduled to start on July 14 but he's walking into the job on shaky ground.

Just six of the 11 board members wanted to hire Toole, and state lawmakers are revamping control of the STRS board. When the state budget bill takes effect in 90 days, the six who backed Toole will lose their majority hold of the board.

STRS Board Chairman Rudy Fichtenbaum, who voted to hire Toole, signed the new contract on June 26, even though some board members wanted to hold a special meeting to consider the changes made by lawmakers.

"The landscape changed. It was time to pause and reflect," said Alison Lanza Falls, who is the treasurer's appointee to the board.

STRS Ohio: Turmoil at STRS Ohio leads lawmakers to revamp control of teachers pension fund board

Jon Allison, the governor's appointee, said Fichtenbaum ignored his request for a special meeting before executing the contract.

"Our (legal) counsel urged board discussion about potentially material unknowns and risks. That advice was ignored," Allison said. He added that teachers and retirees expect STRS board members to mind every penny.

Fichtenbaum did not return messages seeking comment.

In September 2024, the board voted to pay its executive director, Bill Neville, $1.65 million to leave. Neville had been an STRS employee for two decades.

Toole's contract includes $405,000 each year in base pay, plus $25,000 in additional deferred compensation, 30 vacation days per year and up to $20,000 for moving expenses.

On a financial disclosure statement filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission,

Toole reported earning $24,000 from Principal and $100 from Home Depot last year. His personal investments are largely in index funds as well as some individual stocks and cryptocurrency, according to the statement.

Lawmakers remake STRS board in budget

In May, Gov. Mike DeWine, House Speaker Matt Huffman, Senate President Rob McColley and State Treasurer Robert Sprague signed a joint letter urging the STRS board to delay hiring a new executive director until June.

On June 25, lawmakers pulled the trigger to change the STRS board, which currently has four appointed financial experts, five teachers and two retirees.

Under the new setup, the 11-member board will consist of two teachers, one retiree, the chancellor of higher education, the director of the Department of Education and Workforce, and financial experts appointed by the governor, two appointees from the state treasurer, and three appointees by the Ohio House speaker and Senate president.

The board changes will be phased in by August 2028. In the interim years, the total board count will temporarily peak at 15.

Once fully phased in, teachers and retirees will hold three board seats, down from the current seven. Eight seats will be held by people appointed by elected officials. The appointees will serve at the pleasure of those who put them on the board, not for a fixed term.

Ohio House Finance Committee Chairman Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said widespread concern over how STRS is being run led to the changes. Over the past six years, the system has been roiled by anonymous memos, staff departures, board turnover, lawsuits and investigations.

State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@gannett.com and @lbischoff on X.

This article may be read here.