School board, teachers still can’t resolve insurance issue
The Warren County Education Association and the school board are no closer to an agreement after another negotiations meeting Thursday afternoon.
Still at issue is the WCEA’s request for the school system to help pay increasingly expensive health insurance premiums, a move school board officials are reluctant to support since not all teachers take the insurance.
Without a way to offer some sort of compensation to teachers who won’t benefit directly from an insurance supplement, the plan continues to fall short in the eyes of school board members. Also problematic is allotting the funds for such a plan if it is decided to make it a permanent supplement.
But WCEA representatives say all they are really asking for this year is to divide the salary increase of $194,000 evenly between a salary increase and an insurance supplement. WCEA members also wanted to make it clear that money is already on the table and would not require any sort of tax increase.
“We’re not looking for a tax increase,” said WCEA treasurer Kevin Dunlap. “We’re just looking for a little help.”
The WCEA pointed out that Warren County is one of only six school systems, out of 136, that offers no health insurance supplement for teachers. The others are Hancock County, Lebanon SSD, Pickett County, Johnson County and Van Buren County.
Also at issue is the fact the state provides funds to cover 45 percent of teacher health insurance payments based on the state’s Better Education Program. The WCEA claims the state issues funds to cover 407.5 positions, and since only 288 teachers take the insurance, that leaves the school system with an additional $470,342 that did not go to insurance, but was instead used by the school board to pay the salaries of 33 certified personnel. According to WCEA representatives this extra money, which comes in each budget year, can be used for whatever purpose the school board chooses, since the state has no regulations on its use.
“They can do whatever they want to with it,” WCEA president Sheila Gann said, noting it could be used to fund a health insurance supplement.
The WCEA also says the school system shows a total of $1.69 million in its undesignated fund balance which could be transferred into the school budget at any time if school board members want to use it for either insurance or salary increases.
But school board members have consistently pointed out the danger of reducing this fund balance as it represents a “rainy day” fund to cover emergencies, such as the current preparations for the Centertown School, a project the WCEA says it supports wholeheartedly and does not want to jeopardize.
No agreement was reached in the Thursday meeting, but the WCEA presented several proposals including insurance supplements to the school board which will be studied and discussed in future negotiations meetings. Gann says she believes the WCEA and the school board can work together to come up with a solution that will be agreeable to everyone concerned.