School board nixes health insurance plan from teachers
The Warren County Education Association (WCEA) and the Warren County School Board are currently deadlocked over the distribution of $196,000 the school board has set aside to fund raises for local teachers this year.
The WCEA has conducted surveys which indicate the majority of county teachers would like to split the money between salary and health insurance premiums. WCEA president Sheila Gann reiterated that stance at a meeting with the school board Monday night.
During the meeting, school board member Mike Holland said the school board has no problem with the change, just the timing of the request.
“That’s fine if that’s what you want to do,” Holland said. “You just need to do it when we’re doing our budget process.”
But Gann maintained WCEA members want the change this year. She said members want half of the $196,000 to go to salary and the other half to go to insurance.
However, the school board was still unwilling to make a change this year, citing several reasons – including the fact only 288 of the county’s 464 teachers actually take the state insurance. Such a move would also involve a recurring expense that would have to be funded in future budgets, according to Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale, which could involve a tax increase to support it.
According to Hale, the WCEA had originally asked for the county to pay 30 percent of teacher’s insurance premiums, but were told there wasn’t enough money to support that move. The organization then returned with the idea to split the current funds, but Hale said that would have drawbacks as well.
“When you do that, that takes money away from some teachers,” Hale said. “And for our senior teachers, it takes money out of salary which hurts their retirement, not a great deal, but hurts it some. And not all the teachers take insurance.”
But Gann said teachers taking the school’s insurance are already taking a hit, and it will only get worse as insurance premiums increase, which they have done consistently for several years.
“If we do not get the school board to help us on the local level to help us pay for our health insurance,” Gann said, “then we’re going to be bringing home less and less in our paychecks. Last January when our insurance went up, my salary decreased by $70. I was taking home $70 less each month.”
Though school board members felt the split might be unfair to those teachers not on the school’s insurance program, Tennessee Education Association representative Rhonda Catanzaro said that had been discussed by WCEA members.
“They say people who aren’t getting the insurance will have a cut,” Catanzaro said, also taking Gann as an example. “She’s gotten raises every year, but, because she’s had to pay insurance out of her own pocket, she, in effect, has gotten a cut in her raise every single year. So it’ll all even out.”
Gann said the majority of teachers have indicated, via the surveys, they are willing to accept the change, but school board members were still adamant about allocating funds for the current year to only salary. School board members indicated they are willing to negotiate some sort of help with insurance payments in next year’s budget.
Even so, the WCEA asked for another meeting later in the month to discuss other options. Hale said, despite the current stalemate, he felt the parties could reach a mutually acceptable agreement.
“I feel like we’ve always had positive negotiations in the past,” Hale said. “And I feel like something positive will come out of it, and there’ll be, hopefully, something to build on for future talks.”