STRS Board was a victim of a hostile takeover. Teachers like me are at risk.
- ORTA
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
When politicians rewrite the rules to sideline elected representatives, it sends a chilling message: your voice doesn’t matter if it contradicts our agenda.
By Bill Boone, Guest Columnist The Columbus Dispatch
When I started teaching in the '90s, there was an understanding of what you were getting into with a teaching career.
You would be paid significantly less than other professionals with equivalent levels of education, but in exchange you’d get three things: summers, affordable health care and a solid pension.
That third pillar — our pension through the State Teachers Retirement System — was weakened after the Great Recession, leaving many educators in doubt about when we can retire and what kind of standard of living we’ll be able to afford when we do.
That is the backdrop for the unprecedented STRS member advocacy which culminated in the election of seven reform-minded STRS Board members who have challenged the status quo and responsibly restored some of our retirement benefits.
Unfortunately, in one late-night action at the very end of the state budget process, the legislature negated all of that work and stole our voice in our own pension planby removing the majority of our elected members and replacing them with political appointees.
This hostile takeover gives partisan politicians control over $100 billion in STRS assets.
The STRS Board currently has 11 members: four political appointees and seven members elected by active and retired educators. Under the new state budget though, four new appointees will be added in September, giving appointed members the majority, and four elected seats will phase out as the terms of current members end. In just three years, there will be eight appointed members and only three elected members.
This applies only to STRS, retaining an elected member majority in the other four Ohio public pension system boards. It is a targeted attack on educators that follows a long campaign of misinformation, anonymous allegations and politicized investigations against elected members of the board.
State leaders operated in the dark
Under the direction of Speaker Matt Huffman and Senate President Rob McColley, the budget conference committee inserted this proposal from Rep. Adam Bird at the last possible moment — it wasn’t in the governor’s proposed budget or the budget legislation from the House or the Senate — because it would not stand up to even the smallest amount of scrutiny.
Elected members on the board have fulfilled their campaign promises to increase transparency about the STRS Board and to restore benefits without risking the long- term financial security of the fund.
After a decade-long drought, retirees saw three of cost-of-living adjustments approved since the reformers took office. Moreover, the years of service required for full retirement benefits were reduced from 35 years to 32 years for active educators. These reforms were far from reckless; they were implemented with a commitment to financial responsibility.
Would you trust them with your retirement?
The STRS funding ratio has improved significantly, from 56% in 2012 to 82.5% in 2024. The amortization period for unfunded liabilities has also decreased to 10.1 years. This indicates that the fund’s long-term health is being prioritized.
Even Gov. Mike DeWine told a reporter earlier this year that, “I’m looking at it from afar, but it seems that the board is working and working in a productive way.” Yet DeWine failed to veto this when he had a chance.
When politicians rewrite the rules to sideline elected representatives, it sends a chilling message: your voice doesn’t matter if it contradicts our agenda.
The STRS is not merely a pension fund; it’s a lifeline for over 300,000 active educators and retirees. Ohio Republicans, in their quest for power, have not only stripped away the voices of educators, but have also undermined the very essence of democracy. I simply do not trust them to control our pension.
Would you?
