VSBA Team Insists You Don’t Deserve Accessible, Affordable Healthcare
August 16, 2021
At a time when Vermont is awash in nearly $10 billion of federal aid and facing an unprecedented period of growing revenues, the Vermont School Boards Association healthcare bargaining team wants to make it harder for educators – especially the lowest-paid school employees – to have access to affordable health insurance. Sadly, this group of five – which includes two private citizens who don’t represent any school boards – is continuing its assault on the thousands of dedicated school employees who have worked tirelessly on behalf of students during a global pandemic.
That is the unmistakable conclusion arising out of three days of testimony during a fact-finding hearing that ended late Thursday. “It is beyond understanding that the school boards’ team wants to punish the people who have gone above and beyond during a pandemic with more expensive and less accessible healthcare,” said Maple Run EA’s Mike Campbell, the chief negotiator for your healthcare bargaining team. “It’s also short-sighted: we know that at a time when virtually every district is facing shortages of ESP and teachers, slashing benefits is not the way to recruit and retain school employees.” That shortage is real: as of Friday, nearly 1,100 positions in districts across the state remain unfilled.
Several of the VSBA’s own witnesses admitted that reducing benefits is not an effective way of attracting and retain school employees, particularly the lowest-paid educators. Sadly, one of their own witnesses, Caledonia Central Supervisory Union School Board Chair Patrick Healy, seemed almost proud of the fact that vacancies in his district were primarily paraeducators, implying that affordable and accessible healthcare for educators is somehow anti-student.
The VSBA seems driven to make access to healthcare harder and more expensive for educators – especially our lowest-paid support professionals. Their team’s latest proposal bears that out:
Licensed educators would see their health care premium share jump from 20 percent to 22 percent at the end of a three-year package; our lowest-paid support staff would see their premium share jump to a minimum of 15 percent and then 2 percent a year up to 20 percent.
By contrast, your team proposes that licensed educators see premiums at 17 percent the first year, 18 percent the second year, and 19 percent the third year. For ESP, your team wants to avoid any increased premium share.
Licensed educators would see their out-of-pocket expenses increase dramatically from the current $400 per year for single coverage and $800 a year for all other tiers to $1,250 for single coverage and $2,500 for all other tiers. That’s a tripling of costs. For our support staff colleagues, the boards recommend the same out of pocket costs, for a quadrupling of what ESP pay now.
By contrast, your team proposes a sliding scale based on income. For educators earning less than $35,000 a year, out of pocket expenses for single coverage would be $100 and $200 for all other tiers; for those making between $35,000 and $70,000, the amounts would be $200 and $400; for those making more than $70,000, the amounts would be $300 and $600.
The board team also wants to make it harder for employees to qualify for access to full health insurance benefits by changing the definition of part- and full-time duty. Under the current agreement, employees working at least 17.5 hours have access to health insurance; full-time status is locally negotiated. The VSBA proposal would hike the minimum level to 18.5 hours and would mandate full-time at 37.5 hours, which would eviscerate locally bargained levels. This scheme would throw potentially thousands of lower-paid school employees off the health insurance rolls.
By contrast, your team wants to maintain the status quo, which continues to respect locally bargained definitions of full-time employment.
The VSBA also wants to strip the ability to file grievances related to healthcare at the local level; your team wants to maintain that right.
The VSBA also wants to halt the practice of allowing local boards and associations to negotiate so-called cash-in-lieu provisions. These provisions provide for cash payments to those school employees who are covered by a spouse’s or partner’s non-VEHI health plan. Your team believes that should remain a topic of local bargaining.
So what’s next? The fact-finder will pore over testimony and exhibits – including your team’s 12.5-pound briefing book – and render a decision by no later than September 15. After that, the two teams enter post-fact finding. If no agreement is reached, binding arbitration will take place, with a decision due by December 15.
For background and more detailed information, please click below. We’ll be in touch soon with more updates of how this process affects you, and how you can get involved.