The board didn’t respond to the retirees’ questions at the meeting. But in fact, STRS had nearly $9.5 million in exposure to FTX, including about $6.6 million within a private-equity fund called Thoma Bravo Growth Fund and the rest “spread across various funds,” STRS told MarketWatch.

"Retirees of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio are hopping mad over $10 million in bonuses paid to the STRS staff for its performance in managing the STRS investment portfolio. I believe their concerns are justified." -- Richard Ennis, CFA

In a split vote Thursday afternoon, the board rejected a motion to declare confidence in STRS Executive Director William Neville, who has presided over the $90 billion public teacher pension fund since June 2020. The final vote — five in favor, five against and one abstaining — fell short of the six votes needed to assert confidence in Neville.

Faber yesterday finally released... the findings of his office’s year-long Special Investigation of STRS which recommended the pension end secrecy regarding investments and embrace full transparency.

With bonuses in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, 33 of the system’s employees made more than $300,000 and nine made than $500,000. Between those employees and outside consultants, STRS is betting in essence that it can do a better job investing teachers’ pension money than mega-advisors such as the Vanguard Group.

Ohio’s teacher retirement system paid out $10 million in staff bonuses the same year its pension fund lost over $5 billion, according to updated figures released Thursday.