Entrance to the Ohio State Teachers Retirement Headquarters in Columbus. (Photo by Marta Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Ohio teachers will keep their votes on the Retired Teachers’ Pension Fund Board, for now, with an appeals court upholding a temporary block on a fresh state law that eliminated them. After losing the court, Ohio’s Republican House speaker wants to remove judicial power to prevent judges in one county from making state law.
The state relies on teachers to educate the next generation of leaders.
“We all play a part in helping kids grow and benefit and hopefully blossom in their lives,” said retired teacher Mary Binegar.
And half a million lively and retired teachers like Binegar rely on the Teachers’ Retirement System (STR) to assist take care of them when their teaching days are done.
However, she stated that the state changed the contract by changing the STRS table.
“As someone who depends on this pension, it’s really scary because I know that if they make decisions that are not in the best long-term interest of teachers, it affects my life, my livelihood,” she said.
The last minute introduction to the state budget signed in July changed the way teachers were heard.
This changed the makeup of the board from seven elected teachers – five inserted and two withdrawn – to three elected after withdrawal seats over several years.
Two teacher seats will be for activity and only one for retirees.
Each elected member will be able to complete his or her term, but once determined, four of the seven seats will not be filled.
These four teaching seats will be filled by newly appointed members.
Currently, the governor can appoint one investment expert. The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate jointly appoint the expert. The Treasurer receives an appointee, as does the Director of the Department of Education and Workforce.
By law, the treasurer will receive two appointees, legislative leaders will receive one and one combined, equal to three. The chancellor of the Department of Higher Education will receive one, and the governor and the Department of Education and Workforce will receive one.
The Ohio Education Association (OEA), the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (OC AAUP) sued the state, arguing that the board’s changes were “unconstitutional and discriminatory.”
“It’s just not fair – it’s not treated like other pension systems, not going through this process, it’s not transparent,” said Jeff Wensing, president of the OEA.
The lawsuit claims the policy violates teachers’ right to equal protection under the law because it only changed STR and not Ohio’s other four public employee pension funds.
Each of the remaining boards gives more seats to elected members than to political appointees.
Teachers also question how the provision was passed without being considered on at least three different days, and that it was included in legislation that had more than one topic.
The budget, which was thousands of pages, covered everything from tax policy to STR to LGBTQ+ rights.
Republican leaders say there is good reason to change the board.
“I think there’s been quite widespread concern about some of the management of the state teachers’ retirement system,” House Finance Chair Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said during the budget process.
Stewart added that he helped add this provision to the budget because of “the last few years of turmoil and lawsuits and questionable investments,” he said.
To summarize, it happened constant fightingtwo boards resignations, and allegations of both Public corruption programs AND . inappropriate funds. There was senior staff unwell leave and at least two senior employees resign.
A 14-page briefing note given to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in May alleged a massive public corruption scandal and a fast-moving corruption scandal within STR.
Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter to remove former members Wade Steen and Rudy Fichtenbaum from the board, stating that they were participating in a “scheme” that could directly benefit them.
The lawsuit accuses the pair of “colluding” with QED Technologies investments, led by former Ohio Deputy Treasurer Seth Metcalf and Jonathan (J.D.) Tremmel, in securing a deal for 70% of STRS’s assets – approximately $65 billion at the time.
The memo accuses QED of helping elect board members who may be more sympathetic to their proposals.
Fichtenbaum and Steen vehemently deny all allegations against them and are currently fighting Yost in court.
Meanwhile, Our 2024 investigation revealed That STRS once again moved to hire a company that allegedly had a lack of experience and personal connections to board leaders. Consultants did not receive a contract after our story.
We have continued to investigate the alleged scheme over the past year – including an interview with DeWine.
He only expressed his deep concerns following our April 2025 report in which we revealed hundreds of text messages about the relationship between Steen and QED members.
Asked about the constitutionality of the board’s changes and earlier comments that he didn’t think the board needed to change, Dewine said, “Well, obviously I don’t think it’s unconstitutional, but ultimately that’s for the courts to decide.”
But the teachers won.
The Tenth Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) before the case held its first hearing to decide whether there should be a preliminary injunction, another way to stop a law from going into effect while the trial is proceeding.
The case, which is pending in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, has a hearing Friday to decide whether the law should be stopped before it goes into effect.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, is not elated with the judge’s block.
“The General Assembly has the authority to constitutionally decide who is on these boards,” Huffman said.
While he doesn’t think the order restricting this provision is “a big deal, it’s not an imminent problem,” he said it’s an example of a larger problem.
Judicial power
Need to get in touch?
Got a tip?
Huffman said one county judge shouldn’t be able to set statewide policy. After this ruling, he also wants to introduce changes in the judicial authority.
“A bill that was passed by the legislature, signed by the governor, went through the entire process — one judge in Ohio shuts it down,” he said. “I think we have to deal with this problem.”
When Huffman was Senate president during the last General Assembly, he and his caucus quickly inserted a provision in an unrelated bill filing that would allow the state to appeal TROs and preliminary injunctions by county judges.
At the moment, the state is unable to challenge irreconcilable decisions.
As HB 305 passed the Senate that day, Huffman told reporters it was vital to hold back the judges and trust the legislative process.
That same morning, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected an attempt to narrow the TRO on the gender noncustodial provisions.
When asked about his motives, he explained that the urgency of the provision was only a matter of transgender care, but said it was an issue in “many circumstances.”
He cited the Cincinnati Court block on abortion bans.
Teachers say this is all a power grab and that lawmakers simply didn’t like that the board gave an escalate to retirees’ cost-of-living adjustments.
In response to Huffman’s comments, Wensing sent a statement talking about the importance of the court system and separation of powers.
“Unfortunately, Speaker Huffman disagreed with the county court’s decision and now wants to change the rules of the process to create a system that may be more favorable to him. This behavior would be inappropriate on the playground – and it is just as disturbing when it comes from our state leaders,” Wensing said.
“We must stand together to oppose these attacks on the Constitution, just as we have in opposing Speaker Huffman’s attacks on Ohio public school teachers and their right to have a say in the future of their own retirement security. If Speaker Huffman insists on trying to change the law, we look forward to seeing the new law challenged in court – starting at the county level.”
Follow WEWS Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau On X AND Facebook.
This article was Originally published at News5cleveland.com and is published by the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free publication by other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
You make our work possible.
