I lament the lawmakers’ efforts to thwart reforms and silence the democratically elected voice of educators in Ohio.

Dr. Robin Rayfield addressed the STRS Ohio Board during Public Participation on August 21, 2025.

Good morning,

My name is Dr. Robin Rayfield, Executive Director of ORTA and a retired member of STRS. 

I want to take this time to congratulate the accomplishments of the board in recent years. The restoration of some of the lost guaranteed colas is appreciated. The effort to make reforms, as we know, were noticed by the people that want to stifle reforms at STRS, namely Wall St money people and the Ohio politicians that do their bidding. I lament the lawmakers’ efforts to thwart reforms and silence the democratically elected voice of educators in Ohio.

One example of the reforms that have emerged from the democratically elected STRS board has resulted in questions about the benchmarks that STRS use to evaluate investment performance. These questions regarding the legitimacy of these benchmarks remain. However, even if we accept the benchmarks in place as legitimate, STRS has failed to meet or exceed its overall benchmark in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Yet in each of these years STRS investment staff were paid bonuses. On domestic equity STRS does use a legitimate benchmark based upon the Russell 3000. How has the investment staff done when compared to the Russell 3000? Not well. 

• Did STRS domestic equities outperform the Russell 3000 in 2025 – NO

• Has STRS domestic equities outperformed the Russell 3000 for the last 3 years? – NO

• Has STRS domestic equities outperformed the Russell 3000 for the last 5 years? – NO

• Has STRS domestic equities outperformed the Russell 3000 for the last 10 years? – NO

STRS claims they have beaten the benchmark for the last 10 years, but net of fees they have not.

STRS reports their investment performance ‘gross of fees’. Consider that the audited or actuarial return is always twelve to fifty basis points less than the STRS reported returns. Why are bonus payments calculated on gross of fees performance and benefits available to pay obligations to retirees based on actuarial or audited performance?  Bonus payments have to be based upon the same number used to calculate benefit payments. After all, we can only spend what we really earn.