Who is Chad Smith?

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As a 27-year veteran educator and passionate community leader, I have dedicated my career to empowering students, supporting educators, and improving my community. Currently, I teach Spanish at Centennial High School in Columbus City Schools. Throughout my career, I have embraced leadership opportunities, including serving as a Junior Faculty Representative for the Columbus Education Association, Mentor Teacher for Project ASPIRE, Electives Department Chair, member of the ABC Committee, Negotiations Team Member for CEA (2019), TBT facilitator, and World Language Presenter for professional development days.

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Outside of my professional career, I have proudly served as President of the Greenbrier Civic Association for the past six years, leading a community of 365 households. My responsibilities include managing communications, chairing quarterly meetings, forecasting annual budgets, and overseeing three major capital improvement projects, such as neighborhood wall construction and repairs.

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I feel compelled to serve on the STRS Board to ensure that active and retired teachers have confidence in their retirement. As a trustee, I will advocate for transparency in investments, prioritize funds with lower fees, promote fiscal responsibility, and protect cost-of-living adjustments whenever possible. I am also committed to working toward permanently lowering the years of service requirement for active teachers.

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I bring a collaborative and diplomatic approach to problem-solving and will work to find solutions that serve all stakeholders. Together, we can build a stronger, more secure future for educators.​

Why do you want to be a Board member?

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I believe that active and retired teachers should receive what they deserve and were promised. It is wrong to force teachers to work longer while their workload continues to become more challenging year after year. I have heard testimonials from many retired teachers about their financial woes without yearly COLA. Due to the sacrifices of teachers starting in 2012 through the present, I feel that the stability of the STRS fund is strong enough where benefits can continue to be restored without damaging its financial stability.

  

I believe that I am qualified to serve on the STRS Board. I have kept abreast of what has been happening with STRS and have helped inform my colleagues about events that impact our pension. I have managed my own investments for over 26 years and I feel that I am at a point in my life where I can effectively serve all active and retired teachers to provide them with a retirement system that all members deserve. 

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I feel compelled to serve on the STRS Board to ensure that active and retired teachers have confidence in their retirement. As a trustee, I will advocate for transparency in investments, prioritize funds with lower fees, promote fiscal responsibility, and protect cost-of-living adjustments whenever possible. I am also committed to working toward permanently lowering the years of service requirement for active teachers.​

What do you see as the role of a State Teachers Retirement Board member?

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The role of a State Teachers Retirement Board member is to represent all of its members as their fiduciary and prioritize their needs first while maintaining solvency in the system. An effective board member will challenge STRS staff by asking questions that focus on how assets can be responsibly invested with the end goal of restoring member benefits. Board members must warrant that the STRS investment team is dedicated to pursuing investments that protect and grow our pension with the lowest fees possible. A board member is the voice of contributing members and retirees and must stay attuned to the recurring challenge within the state legislature and advocate for change in laws in regards to how STRS is managed. 

 

It is a board member’s due diligence to be engaged in its governance, long-term planning, and communication; be a voice of reason who can collaborate and instill trust amongst the board and for all current and future beneficiaries. An effective board member must be prepared for every meeting by doing the essential research, asking the tough questions and making the best informed decisions that work to protect every members’ financial longevity. 

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What are your main planks to your platform?

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• Hire an Executive Director who will prioritize a solvent pension system for retirees and active members and will restore trust amongst STRS Staff and STRS members

• Hire a Chief Investment Officer who shares the vision of the STRS reform board that funds should be invested in public funds that have lower fees like index funds, provides transparency, purchase future investment funds that have historically performed well when compared to the market trends

• Continue to increase revenues so retirees can receive COLAs as often as possible

• Permanently reduce years of service as close to 30 years as possible for all actives and do it at a fiscally responsible pace while maintaining the system’s solvency

• Reduce spending and find creative ways to increase revenue that can be reinvested into STRS

• Advocate for an increase in STRS contributions by employers so our systems remains solvent as required by law while the number of retirees increase

• Represent all teachers invested in the system first

• Maintain professionalism and integrity as an STRS board member

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​How would you prioritize the key issues that the State Teachers Retirement Board should focus on?

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1. Reduce the number of years of required service as close to 30 as possible. We need to keep the teaching profession attractive   to younger generations while maintaining solvency in  our system. Teaching is a challenging and a demanding job and it is unfair to make teachers work excessively longer than what they were told before 2012.

2. Restore the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for retirees. All of the other State Pension Systems in Ohio and Social Security have been able to give regular inflation protection to retirees. No retiree should go five years without a COLA when inflation has been as rampant as it has been. This is a promise that needs to be restored as quickly as possible.

3. Cut excessive spending that is detrimental to the system’s ability to provide consistent benefits to teachers. Any reductions in costs and investment fees can be utilized to provide benefits that teachers expect. 

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Tell us about your background with STRS and any issues that concern you and relate to active members/retired members. What skills (include financial) do you bring to help you deal with the issues you have identified?

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When I began my career in teaching, I hoped to be able to retire after 30 years of service. Since I began later than some, I would have been working until 2033 and finishing at nearly 63 years of age instead of 57 after the changes in 2012.  Our jobs get tougher every year so I am grateful that the reform members have had success in getting our years of service down to 34 and hopefully 33 next year. Like everyone else, I have watched contributions go up to 14% which has impacted how much that I can invest in my 403b and IRA Roth. As I continue to get closer to retirement, I know many retirees who are struggling because their pension has not kept up with inflation. Due to their vocalness, I became aware of their struggles and started following STRS in 2018. In the past four years, I have become a member of ORTA and have collected signatures for every active member on the STRS board and have campaigned for them. 

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As far as my financial background, I have been making my own personal investments for 26 years.  I keep abreast of what is going on in the market, and follow what is going on with STRS. If elected, I plan to use the window of time between the election and the beginning of the new term in September to learn as much as I can about STRS. Since I am a Columbus local, I would attend as many sessions as possible before my term. 

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The information on this page was copied from the candidate's ORTA STRS Board of Trustee Candidate Screening Questionnaire and 

State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio Questionnaire for Retirement Board Candidates.