FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2025
Contacts: Neil Bhaerman, nbhaerman@oft-aft.org
Judge Temporarily Blocks Law Removing Educators’ Voice on the STRS Board
COLUMBUS — Today, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Andy Miller issued a major ruling to protect educators’ voice in the future of the State Teachers Retirement System by granting a temporary restraining order preventing the provisions in the state budget affecting the STRS Board makeup from taking effect until a preliminary injunction hearing is held. This ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Ohio Education Association (OEA), the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT), and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (OC AAUP).
OFT President Melissa Cropper, OEA President Jeff Wensing, and OC AAUP Executive Director Sara Kilpatrick released the following joint statement in response to this welcome legal development:
“Ohio’s educators have dedicated their lives and careers to serving students; they deserve to retire with dignity and financial security, and to have a meaningful voice in their retirement system. 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.
Without this temporary restraining order, politicians could begin preparing to pack the board with four more political appointees with the elimination of elected board positions to follow over the next few years. This attack on educators cannot be allowed to stand. We appreciate Judge Miller’s wisdom in preventing the law from taking effect as scheduled and now turn our focus to the fight for a permanent injunction to be issued while the legal process with the lawsuit is completed.”
OEA, OFT, and OC AAUP’s previous press release on the lawsuit against the STRS Board is available here.