School Board to Vote on Insurance Tonight

The Sumner County School Board will meet tonight at 6PM at the Board Office in Gallatin.  Among the agenda items is discussion and a vote on moving to a new, locally managed insurance plan for all employees.  If accepted, certified employees (teachers) would move to the new plan in January 2014.  Enrollment in the new plan would begin in October.  The agenda also includes a vote to separate classified employees from the current County-managed insurance trust to the new trust managed by the School Board by way of its appointed Trustees. It is expected the Board will vote to separate and move all employees to the new trust by January 2015. 

Teachers approved the new plan in a vote held last week.

The School Board's consultants (Arista Consulting Group) have indicated that the Board will realize significant savings -- enough to continue covering a minimum of 45% of health insurance for retired teachers despite the loss of a state subsidy that currently covers those teachers.  Teachers who retire before age 65 with at least 30 years of service are guaranteed that 45% of their health insurance cost will be paid by the state until they reach age 65.  That's because teachers are currently covered under the state plan.  According to the numbers provided by the consultants and Sumner's recent claims experience, it seems likely that significant savings will be realized. 

Another agenda item is the election of a Board Chair and Vice Chair - currently, those positions are filled by Ted Wise and Beth Cox. 

Teachers Choose New Insurance Plan

Sumner County teachers have voted to create an independent health insurance trust overseen by the School Board.  This means that in January of 2014, teachers will no longer be a part of the state's Local Education Medical Plan.

 It also means that the Board will soon vote to remove its classified (non-teacher) employees from the County-run insurance trust. 

That's the same trust that was bailed out in November of 2012 because it was running out of funds to pay claims. It ran out of funds to pay claims because the County refused to follow the Trustee's recommendations to raise premiums -- doing so would have increased costs to both employees and to the County.  And a solid majority on the County Commission is steadfastly against a tax increase for any purpose.  So, with no other sources of income, the Commission allowed the trust to nearly go bankrupt, then bailed out it with reserve funds. 

If that type of management continues, the County employees and school system classified employees would face serious consequences including an end to the trust and either a new plan or no plan. 

The School System's move should make the insurance situation more stable for its classified employees -- but it will also put the County Trust in danger of collapsing.  Without the premiums from the school system employees (who have tended to file less claims than other county employees), it seems unlikely the Trust will survive absent a significant premium increase. 

According to the school system's consultants, the move to a new School Board Trust for health insurance will create significant savings.  Most immediately, employees could see premium reductions of $15 a month or more (depending on the plan they choose) from their portion of the insurance match.  Additionally, the Board figures to see savings in the millions in its portion of premium payments.

With such savings available, the School Board may finally be able to raise pay for all employees to a more competitive level with surrounding counties. 

Only time will tell if the School Board's new plan will be a success.  Of course, you can expect political heat to be generated over the move to take the school system's classified employees out of the current County Trust. 

Stay tuned ...