News that state auditor Keith Faber’s office will be performing a special audit into the state teachers’ pension fund went over big with educators at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the pension fund board. The State Teachers Retirement system manages $94.5 billion in assets for half a million teachers, and some retired educators hired an investigator to look into the fund’s performance and fees.
Retired teacher Suzanne Laird says she still subs in the Worthington City Schools to pay for higher health care premiums. She told the STRS board that they should be ashamed for not listening to teachers who lost their cost of living adjustment in 2017 about their concerns over fees and money manager bonuses.
“You thought we didn’t know anything. You called us a bunch of malcontents. And yet now the state auditor has stepped up.”
The auditor’s office says it got numerous complaints after Ted Siedle was hired by retired teachers to look into the fund. Siedle’s report says STRS needs more transparency and that billions that could pay benefits have been squandered. STRS says his allegations are baseless and the fund has outperformed the market over the last decade.