Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association continues call for reform after $5.3 billion in fund losses in 2022
By Joe Pagonakis March 2, 2023
The announced $5.3 billion in STRS losses again had the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association Executive Director Robin Rayfield demanding reform. Rayfield testified at the Feb. 14 State Board of Education meeting, calling for change on how STRS bonus benchmarks are determined. Rayfield has also asked for more investment transparency from STRS after he said it refused to release crucial documents on how it's investing teacher contributions.
“It’s an unequivocal fact that Ohio teachers have the worst pension deal in America," Rayfield said. “The loss wasn’t $3 billion it was $5.3 billion. So we pay bonuses before the numbers have been verified, then numbers come and they’re always worse and the bonuses have been paid.”
Rayfield told News 5 the Ohio Retirement Study Council which provides STRS oversight needs to do a better job, even though its 2022 report gave STRS passing performance grades for how the retirement fund is being managed. Rayfield pointed out the council was several years late in making its recent 10-year evaluation.
Our blog is a record of ORTA's fight to protect and preserve our retirement benefits. From time to time, we post articles from the past that we want to preserve and share with new members. This is one of those article.