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

I would call it a sleazy political stunt in in the dead of night,” Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association Executive Director Robin Rayfield said.

The state budget passed on Wednesday includes a plan to overhaul the State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS), with critics saying it was done to effectively silence the voices of active and retired Ohio teachers.

Just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, an amendment was added to the budget to change the makeup of the 11-member STRS board. Right now, the board includes seven elected teachers, but that would be cut to only three, with four new political appointees.

The Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association said lawmakers want to ignore the needs of teachers and retirees who have successfully elected so-called “reformers” to the STRS board during the last six elections.

They are demanding transparency in investments and a return of promised cost-of-living increases.

“We’re not surprised that they would pull up, I don’t know, I would call it a sleazy political stunt in in the dead of night,” Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association Executive Director Robin Rayfield said.

“They’re not into transparency. You know, they’re typical of government officials, one in the morning, decide that they’re going to put something in the budget bill that has nothing to do with the budget but everything to do with destroying people’s opportunity to be heard.”

“I’m all for reform, I’ve said it before, but this is not reform. I mean this is just a power grab,” Ohio Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma), a former teacher who sits on the Ohio House penison committee, said.

Like Rayfield, Brennan was shocked to learn about the last-minute budget amendment, which will overhaul the 11-member board, currently ruled by a seven-seat teachers and retirees majority.

“When we’re going from five contributing representatives down to two, and two retirees to one, that’s a huge voice for the stakeholders who matter most on that board, and it’s just a shame,” he said.

Republicans on the pension committee pushed through the change with no hearings to allow teachers and retirees to be heard.

Retirees have gone years without promised cost-of-living increases, pointing out that the STRS investment staff sometimes doubles their salaries with unreasonable bonuses.

Rayfield said it’s time for teachers to elect lawmakers who represent their interests, and with STRS, vouchers, and cuts to education funding, he called Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine the worst governor for education in Ohio’s history.

There’s still the possibility DeWine will use his line-item veto power to strike down the change, but Rayfield isn’t optimistic.

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” he said. “He’s been against the teachers. He’s the worst education governor ever. He’s had… the educators have taken the largest step back under his leadership than all the other governors combined.”

A spokesman for DeWine said he stands by his record for supporting teachers and students, and he will examine every line item in the budget, including changes to STRS.

Read Colleen Marshall's report online at https://www.nbc4i.com/news/politics/ohio-lawmakers-make-last-minute-teachers-pension-change-to-state-budget/