Take Action on STRS Board Changes
- ORTA
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (OCAAUP) has created a form and a letter to make it easy for Ohio's educators to contact their legislators to voice their opposition to the overhaul of the governance of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.
FROM THE OHIO CONFERENCE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS:
You might recall from our previous communications about the state budget that, during the conference committee process, the legislature added an overhaul of the governance of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS). This extreme, eleventh-hour change will take away control of the system from elected educators and put it in the hands of political appointees.
We have created this Action Network page for you to email members of the General Assembly expressing your opposition to this egregious maneuver. The legislature must rollback its actions, work with stakeholder groups, and allow for sufficient public input about the future of STRS.
In addition, we want to let you know that we’re working closely with the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) and Ohio Education Association (OEA) on other actions we can take, and we’ll share information about these next steps in the near future.
Feel free to copy/paste and share the following message from OCAAUP:
SUBJECT: STRS Board Changes Are an Attack on Educators and All Workers
MESSAGE: As an educator, I am extremely upset by the provision passed in the state budget that radically changes the composition of the STRS Board. Currently, active and retired teachers elect the majority of the Board. The majority of the Board should be representative of Ohio’s active and retired teachers…it is our money after all. The benefits provided through our pension system represent the financial security in retirement for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans.
The legislature has stripped the majority of the Board away from educators and would replace four elected members with political appointees. This is unacceptable. Worse yet, this was slipped in at the eleventh-hour during conference committee with no debate, hearings, or opportunity for public comment.
Of Ohio’s five public retirement systems, only STRS was targeted and only the voice of educators was stripped away in this manner. Why? STRS investments are performing well, and the system is well within the financial metrics established under law.
I am asking you to take immediate action to reverse the takeover of STRS with the appointment of four political appointees and removal of elected members of the Board.
Stand up for the voice of active and retired teachers in the state.
YOUR SIGNATURE HERE
Representative Matt Huffman is the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.
His email address is Rep78@ohiohouse.gov.
Senator Rob McColley is the President of the Ohio Senate.
His email address is McColley@ohiosenate.gov.