Dean Dennis

Members might want to attend or tune into Tuesday’s STRS Investment Seminar. To the surprise of nearly everyone, Investment Committee Chair Alison Lanza Falls has invited Senator Mark Romanchuk and Representative Adam Bird to the seminar. They are scheduled for the 11:30 - 12:15 time slot. Here is why their attendance is interesting.

The Governor’s signing into law HB 69, containing the Adam Bird amendment, left unchallenged, would change the composition of the STRS Pension Board from seven elected pension members and four political appointees to three elected pension members and eight political appointees.  This is unacceptable.

As most of you know by now, Ohio House Bill 96, Ohio’s annual operating budget bill, contained a nefarious amendment designed to eliminate the voices of Ohio's teachers. The amendment reconfigured the State Teachers Retirement Board by reducing the number of elected teachers from 7 to 3, while increasing the appointed members from 4 to 8. Simply put, appointed bureaucrats would replace the majority of democratically elected members.