Heading 5
Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association
Fighting for Ohio's teachers since 1947!
ORTA advocates for the pensions and benefits of Ohio's active and retired educators; demands accountability from the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio; and lobbies 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.
Pension Defense Fund Update: August 16, 2025
ORTA is the only organization that fights full-time to make sure your pension is working responsibly for you.
Retiring without any inflation protection is a problem that must be remedied. We cannot fight this battle by ignoring attacks on our pension that require legal action. We need you to adequately fight these attacks by helping us fund our legal expenses. Specifically:
-
The expenses incurred by the improper removal of Wade Steen.
-
The ongoing expenses incurred by the “anonymous” letter sent by STRS staff to the Attorney General, which has resulted in significant legal expenses fighting unfounded charges against Wade Steen and Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum. The court trial date is scheduled for October 2025.
-
An additional concern that we need to address is the Midnight Massacre, which is an attempt by a handful of misguided legislators to reconfigure the representation of our pension board. For those who are unaware, at 1:30 in the morning, Representative Adam Bird, Chair of the Ohio Retirement Council (ORSC), slipped an amendment into Ohio’s annual budget bill. The amendment was to reconfigure our pension board by eliminating 4 democratically elected STRS board members and replacing them with an additional 4 appointed board members. Of note, some members of the Ohio Retirement Study Council claimed they were completely unaware of this clandestine power grab. It appears that nearly everyone who voted for the Ohio Annual Budget was unaware that this amendment was added to the 3,000-plus-page document.
Help ORTA help you.
ORTA’s goal is to seek 1,000 members who can contribute $10 per month to the Pension Defense Fund. In the past 18 months of legal attacks, ORTA has incurred nearly $300,000 in legal expenses. The good news is that members are stepping up. Last week, an additional 35 members committed to help us meet this goal, which brings our total contributing members to 134. These donations, along with single donations, brought in another $9,471 last week. For those counting, ORTA raised nearly $26,300 in the past month.
Thank you to our members for your generous donations!
Dr. Robin Rayfield, Executive Director
Dean Dennis, Executive Council Chair
Did you know?
Passport Unlimited savings are included in
your ORTA membership!
-
As a member of ORTA, you have access to exceptional savings through Passport Unlimited.
-
Passport offers savings at Sam's Club, Kohls, Apple, and hundreds of other retailers and services.
-
You'll receive email updates about new savings in dining, travel, and shopping.ā
Radical overhaul of the STRS Ohio Retirement Board
Despite a weekend-long email and telephone campaign from Ohio teachers and retirees, Gov. Mike DeWine let stand an overhaul of the State Teachers Retirement System Board.
"They built the pension through their hard work and their money, and they live off the pension and how well it does for the rest of their lives, so having them have a majority stake in that board makes sense." - David Pepper
Educators Professional Liability Insurance
Protect your reputation and your career today with professional liability coverage.
ā
Become a member of ORTA and qualify for the new Educators Professional Liability Policy provided through our trusted benefits partner, AMBA.
āāā
Visit AMBA Benefits and apply online today.
ORTA Video Library