OHIO Warren Co. official pushes for a spot on STRS board

The value of the fund's assets had declined by at least $11 billion.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A schools superintendent from southwest Ohio says he wants to help restore accountability on the State Teachers Retirement System board and is trying to get elected next month to a seat on the nine-member oversight panel.
John Lazares, superintendent of the Warren County Educational Services Center, is running against incumbent board member Eugene Norris, a teacher in the South-Western City Schools in suburban Columbus, for the four-year term that begins this September.
Nick Treneff, an STRS spokesman, said ballots have been mailed this month to active and inactive teachers who are allowed to vote in the election. Ballots are due May 3 and will be counted May 8, Treneff said. STRS officials said the retirement system has sent out 301,512 ballots.
Lazares, 54, says if elected, he wants to "ensure that the retired members' and the active members' retirement system is secure for the present and future, that the monies are spent wisely and that health-care crisis issues for the retirees are addressed."
Further, Lazares says he wants "to ensure that the business practices that caused excessive spending and irresponsibility in the past do not happen again."
Lazares said he believes the board has worked to correct many of the controversial business practices but hasn't done enough.
Funding
Last year, the teachers retirement system that now has more than $54 billion in assets came under scrutiny for giving out more than $14 million in bonuses to employees since August 2000 and spending $869,000 on eight pieces of artwork for its renovated office building in downtown Columbus. Over the same time period the value of the fund's assets had declined by at least $11 billion.
Also, retirees have had to cope with reduced health-care benefits.
Since the revelations, the bonuses have been suspended and the former executive director, Herb Dyer, has resigned and has been replaced by current Executive Director Damon F. Asbury. In addition to being the educational services center superintendent in a county between Dayton and Cincinnati, Lazares is also the superintendent of the Warren County Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Department.
Norris didn't return several calls seeking comment. But in campaign material the English as a Second Language coordinator for the South-Western schools said he hopes to help the teachers retirement system continue to improve. Norris didn't refer to the controversies of last year.
There are nine members of the STRS board, and Lazares and Norris are vying for one of the five active teacher spots. The board also has one retired teacher's position and three ex-officio members -- the state auditor's office, the state attorney general's office and a representative of the state superintendent of public instruction. STRS serves about 400,000 active, inactive and retired teachers.