Heading 5
Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association
Fighting for Ohio's teachers since 1947!
The mission of ORTA is to monitor, advocate for, and protect the pensions and benefits of its members. ORTA demands accountability from the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio andlobbies Ohio's legislators to provide a strong and sustainable retirement system for all Ohio educators, Pre-K through higher education. We rely on membership dues to continue our work.
STRS Board Approves Benefit Changes
Effective July 1, 2026, eligible benefit recipients will receive a 1.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in fiscal year 2027. Retirees who started receiving benefits on June 1, 2022, or earlier will receive a COLA that will be added to the base benefit on the retirement date anniversary and each month thereafter. For active teachers, 32 YOS was extended to May 1, 2035.
The following letter was sent on March 30, 2026, to our Senators and Representatives in the Ohio General Assembly.
Weekly Update - April 4, 2026
Here is what happened this past week.
This past Monday, ORTA leadership joined OFT and OEA leadership in a meeting held by STRS Executive Director Steven Toole.
The purpose of the meeting was to align everyone on our common interests. We all agreed on three basic goals: (1) a healthy, financially sound pension system, (2) retirees need inflation protection, and (3) that active teachers seek full retirement at 32 years.
Obviously, ORTA advocates for COLA restoration and believes ORC 3307.67, as it relates to our COLA, must be followed.
At the meeting, we all recognized that our pension plan, as funded by the Ohio Legislature, is less than ideal. But here is the important takeaway. Our STRS elected board members and appointed members have worked tirelessly to adopt board policies that will put our pension plan on a path to responsibly gradually restore lost benefits while paying down unfunded liabilities. That is the positive news.
Here is the less-than-positive news. There is a significant disconnect in what our Board members and STRS consultants have achieved and what the Ohio Legislature perceives.
Our Board has adopted and applied a model that blends investment returns across multiple stress tests, aimed to pay down unfunded liabilities while also slowly restoring benefits. However, our Ohio Legislature is still stuck on sensational news headlines and the repercussions that arose from a November 2021 Board meeting. Some wrongly believe our Board needs to be reconfigured. They are lagging in the reality of what has happened. Hopefully, Jeffery Bernard, Senior Research Associate at the Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC), who attends most of the Ohio STRS meetings, conveys the progress to the ORSC.
In the meantime, ORTA members need to focus on conveying the above message to their political representatives. While we will continue to fight for transparency, we feel STRS is moving in a positive direction and appreciate that Director Toole is actively listening to our input.
Lastly, ORTA has mailed our pension goals to every Ohio legislator. This past Tuesday, ORTA emailed or mailed our pension goals to all ORTA district leaders. Next week, all ORTA members will receive an email with the ORTA goals we previously mentioned. We will follow this up with a State-Wide Zoom meeting at a date yet to be determined. The goal of ORTA is to ensure every Ohio legislator knows their vote is based on how supportive they are of our pension.
As always, my best,
Dean Dennis, Chair
ORTA Executive Council
ORTA Pension Defense Fund
Please consider making a donation to the Pension Defense Fund to help pay legal fees and expenses to defend and protect our pension and retirement benefits from current and future legal attacks.
Judge grants preliminary injunction in lawsuit over Ohio teachers retirement system
On October 15th, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas issued a preliminary injunction preventing changes to the composition of the STRS Board while litigation is in progress.
ORTA wishes to thank the organizations and individuals who have engaged in our fight to retain elected teachers on the STRS Ohio Retirement Board.
The Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio Education Association, and Ohio Conference of American Association of University Professors funded the injunction to stop the removal of elected teachers to the STRS Ohio Board. They released this statement:
“We are thankful for Judge Aveni’s ruling to grant a preliminary injunction. This determination confirms what retired and active members of STRS have known since June: this is an unconstitutional power grab by the legislature. Educators, just like all other public employees in Ohio, deserve a meaningful voice in our pension plan.” — Statement from OEA President Jeff Wensing, OFT President Melissa Cropper, and OC AAUP Executive Director Sara Kilpatrick.
Colleen Marshall, NBC4 Columbus, has reported factually and without bias on STRS Ohio since the Governor's failed attempt to remove Wade Steen from the STRS Board in May 2023. Watch her report on Judge Aveni's decision to support the preliminary injunction.
David Pepper has dedicated many of his Substack articles to the state's ongoing attack on members of the STRS Ohio Board.
"I have detailed the saga of how Ohio’s always lawless lawmakers have spent years attempting to steal the power of teachers and retirees over their own ($100B) pension fund. And how a number of their attacks have been in clear violation of Ohio law and the constitution." - David Pepper
And above all, we want to thank all of Ohio's teachers who contacted their legislators, asking them not to support this attempt by a small group of politicians to remove democratically elected members from our pension Board.
Join ORTA today! Take advantage of all of our member benefits!
Free AMBA Webinars
ORTA has partnered with AMBA to offer a series of short webinars about important topics like long term care, Medicare, medical transportation, and more. The talks are educational and informative. Join us for the next one, and invite a friend!
Each webinar begins with an ORTA update by Dr. Robin Rayfield, Executive Director.
ORTA County Chapters
Join your local county chapter of ORTA for social, educational, and volunteer activities, as well as presentations about STRS Ohio and your retirement benefits. Check our list of county chapters for links to chapter websites and Facebook groups. If your county doesn't have an active chapter, contact ORTA about starting one!
ORTA Facebook Group
We created this new Facebook group to make Ohio's retired and active teachers aware of all of the opportunities available to them at our county chapters throughout the state. Chapters can submit posts about monthly meetings, classroom grants and student scholarships, volunteer opportunities, events and activities.
AMBA Benefits
ORTA has partnered with Association Member Benefits Advisors, to offer our members exclusive group rates on health, Medicare supplement, life, dental, vision, and professional liability insurance. AMBA focuses on providing customized coverage through top-rated insurance providers, with options often available to members who may not otherwise qualify for group rates.
ORTA Video Library