December-January 2024 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY: Making an Impact – Commitment and compassion are key to 2024 Ohio Teacher of the Year Mark Lowrie’s award-winning broadcast journalism program at Gahanna Lincoln High School.
- NOTEBOOK:
- Digital Ohio Schools magazine to highlight educators’ voices
- Youngstown Education Association achieves union goals in new contract following strike
- Historic UAW strike a testament to the power of unions, collective bargaining, and organizing
- MAKING THE GRADE
- OEA celebrates Public Education Matters Day with educators at four rallies across the state
- Ashland and Kent State Aspiring Educators chapters offer members a successful start in the education profession
- 2023 Ohio Teacher of the Year Melissa Kmetz to receive NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence
- OEA-Retired members build community, grow in understanding of racial and social justice
- RETIREMENT AND YOU
- Why is it important for educators to support the Social Security Fairness Act to repeal GPO/WEP
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December 2023 OEA Retirement Systems Update
SERS Board Finalizes Anti-Spiking Provision
The SERS Board has approved the final piece of an anti-spiking provision known as the Contribution Based Benefit Cap (CBBC). The state budget bill, House Bill 33, included the provision that impacts future SERS retirees. The CBBC will go into effect on August 1, 2024. It will only affect a small fraction of retirees who have abnormally large increases in salary that are not supported by retirement contributions over their career. When a member’s final average salary in their pension calculation is well above what would be expected from normal salary increases, their benefits are effectively subsidized by other members of the system.
The final piece of the CBBC puzzle was the SERS Board adopting a “factor” used in its calculation. The CBBC calculation annuitizes member/employer contributions and then multiplies it by a factor that will be identified by the SERS Board. A member’s pension is capped at the lower of the formula benefit or the CBBC benefit. The SERS Board adopted a factor of 6.25. Analysis of past retirement data indicates that only a small number of future retirees will be impacted by this change. Of the nearly 3,000 retirements from 2022 and 2023, only eight would have seen a reduction had the CBBC been in place.
STRS Executive Director on Leave Amid Investigation
On Friday, November 17, 2023, the STRS Board voted to put Executive Director Bill Neville on leave pending an investigation by an outside council appointed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The investigation will look into accusations from an anonymous letter from STRS staff alleging a pattern of harassment and threats of violence.
Lynn Hoover, who serves as Chief Financial Officer for STRS, will serve as acting executive director during the investigation.
Click here to download a copy of this December 2023 Report to the OEA Board of Directors. Previous Retirement Systems Updates can be viewed under the Affiliate Resources tab on the OEA website.