By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
Thanks to a Lake County lobbyist for sending us this article from the Columbus Dispatch.
Teachers’ pension a train wreck: Crazy investment opportunities, taxing more out of question
Brent Sohngen Guest columnist, May 31, 2024
Excerpts from the article:
Many of us watching the train wreck at the State Teachers Retirement System are wondering why it took this long to get this point?
By allowing people to retire at a young age, having overly generous payouts combined with a strong cost of living adjustment and giving out bonuses in the form of 13 checks a year rather than the standard 12 monthly ones, the STRS board raided the pantry when they should have been saving for the future.
First, two massive stock market corrections devastated STRS assets. Second, manufacturing left Ohio, and with it, young people. The need for new teachers slowed just as waves of new retirements were happening. Third, retired people started to live longer, taking far more from the system than the system ever expected them to take.
By 2012 a massive $46 billion chasm opened between STRS assets (the value of stocks, bonds and other investments) and their liabilities (an estimate of what is owed to retirees).
Comments from the Lake County lobbyist:
“So it appears STRS can just raise teacher contributions as they see fit, but then also dictate to the local schools to match it???????
What power! I wonder what the taxpayers have to say?
LFC Comments: We would suggest our readers read the entire article in the Columbus Dispatch.
Categories: Contributors
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