Watch the recording of this free AMBA webinar that was live-streamed on September 16, 2025. In addition to valuable information about life insurance, you'll receive an ORTA Update from Dr. Robin Rayfield.

Rather than worry about the composition of the STRS board, Ohio lawmakers should be forcing reforms that produce better investment returns. The 10-year cumulative return for the S&P 500 is 290.76 percent, more than double STRS’ assumed rate of return. Additional dollars from taxpayers would not be needed if Ohio was matching market returns, showing where state pension reform should focus.

The Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio Education Association, and the Ohio Conference of American Association of University Professors...

The Board’s consultants are consistently telling the STRS board, the STRS staff, and STRS members that the main problem is the Ohio Legislature. Simply put, Ohio legislators are, and have been, underfunding the pension system.

We are left feeling isolated, unheard, and deeply troubled. We cannot afford to be silent. We will stand together, demand transparency, and fight to restore our voice in how our hard-earned retirement is managed. This is about our dignity and the respect we deserve as Ohio's educators.

This fight has morphed from a ‘fight for inflation protection’ for retired teachers to a fight for what is right and just for people. Instead of eliminating opposing points of view, our elected officials should develop solutions or better responses to the challenges we face.  

The Ohio Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, joined the Ohio Federation of Teachers and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors in filing the lawsuit. “Educators and teachers should be treated like every other retirement board," OEA President Jeff Wensing said in an interview. "Every other retirement board has the majority of those on the board that are in the system. Why are you treating us differently?”

"Ohio puts less into its teachers pension than any other state in the union, and by a large margin." - Dr. Robin Rayfield, ORTA Executive Director

This leads back to our pension plan, and to the STRS staff allegation that there is a “hostile takeover of a public pension system” taking place. Oddly, the STRS staff got that right too. However, it isn’t ORTA, it’s the Ohio Legislature. We’re working to prevent this from happening. And where is the STRS legal staff in allowing it to happen? It’s our pension plan. Please help us in this fight.