Earlier this week, three teachers’ unions - the Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Federaion of Teachers and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors - filed a lawsuit to stop the implementation of the change in the board.
The judge, Andy Miller, issued a preliminary decision. The case has not yet been heard on the merits, but implementation of the law has been paused as the case unfolds.
“We applaud Judge Miller’s prudent decision to find merit in our case and press pause on the illegal measures inserted by the Ohio General Assembly in the last moments of the state budget process to eliminate elected educators’ positions on the STRS Board,” said OFT president Melissa Cropper, OEA president Jeff Wensing, and OC AAUP executive director Sara Kilpatrick in a joint statement.
The lawsuit alleges the STRS board changes are illegal for three reasons.
- Since only the STRS board was targeted, the policy violates teachers’ rights to equal protection under the law.
- The changes violate the “three considerations rule,” which requires that every bill should be considered by each house on three different days;
- The “Single Subject Rule,” which requires that “No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in the title.”
The STRS board, teachers and the state Republican leaders have been locked in a battle over how the board is running for several years, following the dismissal of its previous executive director, a takeover by board members who want more transparency, and a lawsuit against two of its board members from the state.
STRS has been embroiled in controversy for several years. In 2017, the state stopped cost-of-living increases for STRS retirees, following a 2012 pension reform law that required public employees to work longer for fewer benefits. In 2022, a one-time cost-of-living adjustment of 3% was made, but retirees still say it is not where they want it to be.
STRS oversees about $95 billion invested on behalf of Ohio’s educators. About half a million teachers and retirees are paying into or receive benefits from STRS.
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