Excerpt from the Cleveland Plain Dealer
Twelve hours before lawmakers were set to vote on Ohio’s operating budget, a surprise change appeared in the 5,500-page bill: a plan to shift control of the board that oversees teachers’ pensions from educators to political appointees.
The State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) manages more than $95 billion for current and retired educators. Its board has 11 members. Right now, seven of those seats are held by teachers and retirees. The other four go to financial experts and the state superintendent.
Teachers and retirees would keep three seats. The remaining eight would go to appointees chosen by the governor, state treasurer, and legislative leaders—none of whom would serve fixed terms.
The last-minute amendment caught many off guard, including members of the Ohio Retirement Study Council.
“I was caught by surprise,” said Rep. Sean Brennan, a Parma Democrat who serves on the council. “I would have hoped we would have taken a more slow, methodical approach before doing anything drastic.”
The proposal came from Rep. Adam Bird, a Clermont County Republican, who raised concerns in April about how the STRS board was functioning.
