SL School District Contract Negotiations

An article in todays Adirondack Daily Enterprise points out that contract negotiations between the Saranc Lake School Board and NYSUT teachers has begun. The teachers contract expires in June 08. The big issue is going to be health insurance and how much teachers should contribute towards health insurance costs.

Health insurance for SL school district employees costs the district $5,484 for a single plan and $14,232 for a family plan. The district tax payers pay $3.7 million dollars towards employee health insurance - that's a very big chunk of the budget. SL teachers have never contributed towards health insurance costs as far as I am aware.

The teachers' negotiating team is headed by Ron Burke. He has trouble saying how much he thinks teachers should contribute towards health insurance costs. Ten years ago there was a plan accepted by the teachers to contribute $125 or $250 towards health insurance costs depending on whether the plan was single or family. That was ten years ago. Here is what Ron Burke has to say:

"I certainly know where I stand from the perspective of being a teacher, but I'm also a taxpayer....that's a really hard question to answer." [presumably concerning how much teachers should contribute towards health insurance costs]

Someone needs to bring these teachers into the real world. Most of us are contributing 10, 20, 25% towards health insurance costs if we are lucky enough to have employer sponsored plans. A $250 contribution towards a family health insurance plan would be about a 1.8% contribution. Let's be realistic...that just won't cut it. A minimum 10% contribution is what the school board should insist upon. Will it happen? I'm guessing a teacher contribution will be successfully negotiated. I'm pretty sure it will be far less than 10% however.