Latest news with #STRS
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio lawmakers consider change to teacher pension fund
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio lawmakers are considering a sweeping change to the make up of Ohio's teacher pension fund that could force retirees and teachers off their own board. The State's Teachers Retirement System (STRS) has been embroiled in controversy of late, with retirees saying they've been denied promised cost of living increases while investment staff gets bonuses despite losing billions of dollars. Currently, a legislative subcommittee is reviewing pension boards around the country that could possibly change who sits on the STRS board. Over the past few years, teachers and retirees have worked to get 'reformers' elected to the board. These reformers won a majority of the seats of the 11-member board but retirees said multiple Ohio government officials are working to strip their power away. 'Everybody gets rich at STRS, our consultants get rich. Our investors get rich, our STRS management get rich,' said Robin Rayfield, the CEO of the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association. 'The only people who don't get rich are the people who put the money in, and that is the teachers.' A manual outlining benefits was given to tens of thousands of Ohio teachers when they were hired, which says they are promised pension with a cost of living increase of 3% annually. Nearly a decade ago, STRS took that away and since 2020, retirees said they have lost 23% of their buying power. 'So we have teachers that are, you know, trying to live on 40, $50,000 I mean, they have roofs on their house that need to be replaced. They need to buy cars. I mean, how do you have an investment like that?' said Dean Dennis of a retiree watchdog group. FTC, FBI issue warnings about 'deals' that sound too good to be true This watchdog group has worked to get reformers elected that demand investment transparency and an end to lavish bonuses for investment staff members. Some of these bonuses are as high as $300,000. The group said they are receiving push back, first from Gov. Mike DeWine. A board member Wade Steen was previously kicked from the board by Gov. DeWine, before appointing G. Brent Bishop to replace him. But at the beginning of 2024, an appeals court determined DeWine overstepped his authority in removing Steen from the position. The governor called for an investigation into the board, claiming there is a hostile takeover by private interests at STRS. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost obliged, and called for the removal of Steen and Rudy Fichtenbaum from the board in May of 2024. Retirees said Steen and Fichtenbaum were targeted because they backed reform. 'The people that we have elected want the most basic, simple things. They want transparency and accountability,' said Dennis. 'That's all we're looking for, because without accountability and transparency, you can't fix a broken pension system.' The Republican controlled Ohio Retirement Study Council is looking into changes to the make-up of the board. Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma), a retired teacher, serves on the bipartisan legislative subcommittee and is keeping an open mind. 'I've always believed in looking for best practices,' said Brennan. 'So if there is something that we could be doing in Ohio that's better than what we're doing now, then why not take a look at it? And as retirees, we paid in and have very much a vested interest in the future of the system. And I think we we are required to have a voice, and entitled to a voice.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stratus Properties: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Stratus Properties Inc. (STRS) on Thursday reported a loss of $2.9 million in its first quarter. On a per-share basis, the Austin, Texas-based company said it had a loss of 36 cents. The real estate company posted revenue of $5 million in the period. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights ( using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on STRS at
Washington Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Stratus Properties: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
AUSTIN, Texas — AUSTIN, Texas — Stratus Properties Inc. (STRS) on Thursday reported a loss of $2.9 million in its first quarter. On a per-share basis, the Austin, Texas-based company said it had a loss of 36 cents. The real estate company posted revenue of $5 million in the period. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights ( using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on STRS at
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stratus Properties: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Stratus Properties Inc. (STRS) on Thursday reported a loss of $2.9 million in its first quarter. On a per-share basis, the Austin, Texas-based company said it had a loss of 36 cents. The real estate company posted revenue of $5 million in the period. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights ( using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on STRS at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Members on teachers' pension fund board could lose voting power
The entrance to the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System headquarters in Columbus. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.) The Ohio Retirement Study Council leaders are evaluating whether or not to remove the voting rights of teachers on their retirement pension fund board. This comes after a year of controversy in which elected educators are accused of participating in a $65 billion corruption scheme. The board chair denies all allegations, and some retired educators are accusing the Statehouse Republicans of trying to stop transparency. 'It's not a radical idea to think about how other teacher retirement boards are comprised,' state Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said. Bird, the chair of the Ohio Retirement Study Council, is considering all options when it comes to changing the makeup of the State Teachers Retirement System board. But for him, the timing of the change isn't due to the recent spending of $2 billion to restore a 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment. 'I'm concerned that the STRS current composition of seven teachers and four appointed investment experts appears to be imbalanced, which can lead to a perception of lack of fiduciary responsibility,' Bird said. For the past year, controversy has been swirling inside the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), a roughly $100 billion pension fund for the more than 500,000 active and retired public educators in Ohio. In summary, there has been constant fighting, two board resignations, and allegations of both a public corruption scheme and mishandling of funds. There has been a senior staff dismissal and at least two senior staff resignations. The scandal centers around former board member Wade Steen, board chair Rudy Fichtenbaum, and their relationship with investment firm QED Technologies, run by former Ohio Deputy Treasurer Seth Metcalf and Jonathan (JD) Tremmel. In May 2024, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine received a 14-page anonymous whistleblower memo, alleging a massive public corruption scheme brewing and moving quickly within STRS. In 2020, Metcalf and Tremmel set their eyes on STRS, according to the document. The document claims that QED — despite having no clients and no track record — tried to convince STRS members to partner with them. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX They couldn't impress the board members, mainly because of their lack of experience and because QED was not registered as a broker-dealer or investment adviser. The men also didn't own the technology to 'facilitate the strategy,' the documents said. So what exactly are Steen and Fichtenbaum trying to change, and what would QED allegedly attempt to do? Revise the investment structure. The men are seen as the leaders of the 'reform movement.' This fight began from a debate on how STRS should invest money; through the current system of actively managed funds versus an index fund. Active funds try to outperform the stock market, have more advisors, and typically cost more. Index funds perform with the stock market, are seen as more passive, and typically cost less. In short, 'reformers' want to switch to index funding, while 'status quo' individuals want to keep actively managing the funds. Recent elections have allowed the 'reform-minded' members to have a majority of the board. Steen and Fichtenbaum had allegedly been bidding continuously, pitching QED's direct documents to board members and proclaiming the company's talking points to other staff. Attorney General Dave Yost later filed a lawsuit to remove Steen and Fichtenbaum from the board, stating they were participating in a contract-steering 'scheme' that could directly benefit them. Yost started the investigation after the memo – now known to have been prepared by STRS employees – alleged that Steen and Fichtenbaum had been doing the bidding of QED. Reporting by WEWS/OCJ has included the first time Yost and QED spoke about it, and continued with dozens of reports on the topic. A September investigation revealed that STRS was, once again, moving to hire a firm that allegedly lacked experience and personal ties to the board leaders, according to senior staff. After the reporting, the board chose not to move forward with the firm that has been the subject of the news investigations. Bird's move is the first step in changing state law. Other Republican leaders are arguing that, due to the scandal, the elected teachers on the board should be removed or they should be non-voting members. 'There's been an attempt to circumvent the long-standing evaluation process that STRS has for evaluating investment strategies,' the study council chair continued. Retired teacher Robin Rayfield is appalled by the idea of removing the elected members from the board. 'We're not in favor of them changing the board, except if they were eliminating appointed positions,' Rayfield said. 'As retired educators, we believe in democracy.' The educator runs the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, ORTA, an organization currently under investigation along with Rayfield. Due to his close relationships with both Steen, Fichtenbaum and QED, Rayfield's conversations have been subpoenaed by the attorney general. He was also reported to the Ohio Ethics Commission due to his financial donations to board members. He put together a fund in 2023 to pay Steen's legal fees, with additional funds being added to help both Steen and Fichtenbaum's litigation against Yost. ORTA has donated more than $163,000, according to financial forms. The STRS memo claims QED and ORTA had worked together, specifically when it came to elections, to get a more sympathetic — or willing — board. Rayfield said that the investigation is a sham and a way for the state to stop transparency. 'It's clear that the folks in Ohio in power — they want more power,' Rayfield said. 'They don't want people having the opportunity to represent themselves.' He said it isn't fair to use the argument that they don't trust the board to follow their fiduciary duty due to the board's alleged continued interest in QED. 'That's a straw man,' Rayfield said. 'The QED thing has been dead since '21.' The STRS chair was asked in August whether he was still considering QED. 'I don't know at this point,' Fichtenbaum responded. 'I think that the idea that they had about earning fees is not a bad idea.' Also, Rayfield allegedly called interim STRS Executive Director Aaron Hood in April to discuss QED, according to a public records request. In an email to the board, Hood wrote: 'Yesterday afternoon I received a telephone call from Robin Rayfield at ORTA. Robin offered to set up a meeting for me with representatives of QED (including Seth Metcalf) since there is so much 'controversy.' I was so taken aback that I stepped out of my office and asked him to acknowledge his request again on speakerphone so that other staff could hear his confirmation of the request. I informed him that I will not meet with anyone related to QED and encouraged him to read the AG's filings (including exhibits) involving communications from QED to a former board member. To be clear, no STRS staff will be meeting with representatives of QED and I would advise you all as board members to avoid any such meetings as well, especially in light of the pending outside litigation.' Despite all of this, Rayfield and the 'reformers' argue that there is nothing wrong with questioning the status quo — and that this is clearly a targeted attack at public education. 'It's more political talk; When they've spent a billion dollars on private education and ignored public education, reduced the budget for public education, attacked our pension — all of the forces of everything — the governor, the attorney general, all of the high ranking elected officials, it has been to diminish what our public service has been through — decades of neglect and abuse,' Rayfield said. The Ohio House Republicans passed a budget that dramatically slashed school funding. To be fully funded based on statistics from the Fair School Funding Plan from 2021, schools would need $666 million. The proposed budget only gives them about $226 million. Based on 2025 numbers and inflation, the amount of money to fund K-12 would be closer to $800 million, new data from public school advocates like former lawmaker John Patterson found. Retired educator Mary Binegar, who doesn't trust the 'reform' faction of the board, still says that removing the teachers' voices is a bad move. 'Whether we like the board members (that) are there or not, we do have the opportunity to vote for them,' Binegar. 'I think it's important for educators to have that sense that there are other educators watching out for them.' When Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, was asked about his interest in pension reform, he said he aims to pass some changes to the pension board by the end of June. 'I wanna see what those recommendations are going to be,' Huffman said. 'The problem, conceptually, with pensions… it's trying to solve a problem now that looms many years in the future, it's difficult for people to understand.' Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, shared similar sentiments when I asked him about pension reform. He said he has had a few conversations with the Retirement Study Council leaders. 'I do think it's worth reminding folks, whenever you're on a pension board, you are acting with fiduciary duties to the pensioners in that pension system,' McColley said. 'It's important that they remember that the decisions they make shouldn't just be based on a particular policy that they want to move forward or a particular message that they want to send, but rather it should be based on getting the best return at the appropriate profile for that pension system.' House Minority Leader Allison Russo slammed the Republicans when asked for her thoughts. 'You've got a pension system that represents retired workers, but you don't want to have workers represented on the board? I think (that) speaks to, again, lack of accountability in how individual retirement systems are run, the long-term stability of them.' Russo said. 'And if you don't want voices of those retired workers — I think that's wrong and that's hugely problematic.' No matter the scandal, and no matter the side, each educator who spoke on the matter said that removing their perspective from the board will hurt the fund and cause teachers to feel isolated and unheard. Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
