Dean Dennis and Robin Rayfield addressed the STRS Ohio Board during Public Participation on March 19, 2025
Four elephants in the room: Dean Dennis tackles them all
My name is Dean Dennis, 35 years with Cincinnatti Public Schools, ORTA Executive Chair
Regarding the Employer Contribution increase, ORTA publicly supports STRS’s efforts to increase it. We have already posted on our website as to why an increase is needed. We have also sent our position to the ORSC and are seeking a meeting.
Today, I’m going to give my opinion regarding some elephant-in-the-room topics. The first is Employer Contribution. While it's needed, a 4% Employer Contribution increase will yield roughly only one-half billion of the 4 billion required to resolve our 4-billion-dollar shortfall. STRS must still find new ways to generate more revenue, and board members must be open to new ideas.
The second is the press trying to frame the dysfunction at STRS on the Board. Let’s be clear. The perceived chaos was orchestrated. After the Spring 2023 elections, someone convinced the Governor to bounce Wade Steen off the board on false pretenses. After the Spring 2024 elections, someone from the staff delivered an anonymous 14-page letter to the Governor and AG’s office. Board members are not the ones causing the chaos. An interesting read is posted on the ORTA website. Go to our BLOG tab, click page 2, and open Wade Steen: Recent Court Documents; read everything, including the emails. You’ll find that in July 2020, STRS drafted a business plan proposal for QED. QED rejected this due to transparency issues.
The third is the threat that “Ohio lawmakers may remove teacher’s voting powers as chaos continues.” This is occasionally batted around, and some press members are trying to give it legs. I have met with the ORSC Chair, Adam Bird, a few times. His position is to elect strong Board members and have them fix your transparency problems. If the legislators were to take over the Board, they would own the shortfall and have no one to blame.
The fourth is the AG. The AG must conclude that if he wants a healthy pension system, the problem isn’t the Board members. Board members shouldn’t have to look over their shoulders every time they vote, wondering if their vote will meet with the AG's or some politician's approval. Keep thinking about the members and stay strong.
Robin Rayfield fills in the blanks for STRS board about the "staff-induced chaos" and more
Good morning,
My name is Dr. Robin Rayfield, and I am the Executive Director of the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association and a STRS member.
First, I want to bring to your attention a significant development in the case brought by Attorney General Dave Yost against Mr. Steen and Dr. Fichtenbaum. After an almost year-long investigation, yesterday marked the deadline for Attorney General Yost to present evidence of “back door ties” between Steen, Fichtenbaum, and QED. However, Attorney General Yost failed to deliver any such evidence and abruptly ceased alleging that Steen and Fichtenbaum had received any money from QED, had any interest in QED, or had been promised anything by QED.
Media reports state Attorney General Yost’s suit against Steen and Fichtenbaum originated from information provided by STRS staff.
It is perplexing why certain STRS staff members are not held accountable for their actions that undermine the board’s integrity. Over the past two years, I have witnessed three examples of staff-induced chaos:
1. The STRS general counsel falsely informed this board that Governor Dewine’s removal of Wade Steen was legal, which was not the case.
2. STRS staff facilitated the illegal adjournment of a public meeting immediately after Wade Steen’s return to the board.
3. STRS staff hand-delivered a 14-page letter accusing Steen and Fichtenbaum of being bribed by QED, which was entirely false.
Second, I listened to the presentations yesterday. My takeaway is that the alts portfolio out performs STRS total return. This is irrelevant as the comparison should be against a passive index.
Surprisingly, this comparison was absent from yesterday’s materials, so I took it upon myself to compare the long-term returns of STRS’s alternative investments to the Russell 3000 Index. Not surprisingly, STRS’s alternative investments portfolio is being outperformed by the Russell 3000 by BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
Finally, ask that the board draft and pass a resolution supporting Fichtenbaum and Steen in the AG case and staff publicly apologize to Steen and Fichtenbaum for insinuating that they were corrupt. If STRS wants to restore trust with stakeholders, it must begin by telling the whole truth, holding people accountable, and taking action. A couple of suggested actions would be to offer verbal support for Steen and Fichtenbaum and financial support for their legal expenses brought about as a result of staff actions.