Teacher insurance dispute is much ado about nothing
The Warren County Education Association is set to get $196,000 in raises for local teachers this year, but for some reason the organization isn’t happy.
Instead of counting its blessings, the WCEA is bickering about how to divide the money.
WCEA leadership does not want to place all the money into salaries. The WCEA wants half of the money to go to salaries, and the other half to go to health insurance. At this stage in the game, some three months into the school year, the school board says such a request is far-fetched.
What’s even more curious is why the WCEA is so adamant about splitting the money into halves. It makes the Standard wonder exactly how much these teachers know about math.
What we know for sure is the sum total Warren County teachers are set to receive. That sum is $196,000.
It doesn’t matter if that money is placed in one barrel (pay) or two barrels (pay and health insurance). The total still remains $196,000.
The complex issue when dealing with teachers and health insurance is finding a way to fairly compensate nearly 200 teachers in the system who don’t carry insurance through the schools. Only 288 of the county’s 464 teachers take the state’s insurance.
This is an issue which needs careful consideration. It’s not something to piece together at the last minute.
If the WCEA is determined to get local school system assistance with soaring health insurance costs, that’s something which can hopefully be negotiated down the road. But tossing out 11th-hour demands which don’t appear to make much of a difference is just wasting everyone’s time.