Contents of this issue:
- Lawton administrators change insurance, share in savings
- Petoskey to continue savings with food service privatization
- DPS overspending pegged at $408 million for 2009
- MESSA costs go up 17.5 percent for Swan Valley
LAWTON ADMINISTRATORS CHANGE INSURANCE, SHARE IN SAVINGS
LAWTON, Mich. — Administrators in the Lawton Community Schools
will share in the savings after agreeing to switch to a less
expensive insurance, according to the Paw-Paw Courier-Leader.
The administrators agreed to switch from MESSA SuperCare I to
Choices II, saving the district about $18,000. Half of that will
be returned to the administrators, either in cash or an annuity,
the Courier-Leader reported. The Michigan Education Special
Services Association is a third-party administrator affiliated
with the Michigan Education Association school employees union.
MESSA outsources insurance underwriting to Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Michigan, and then resells the insurance to school
districts.
Lawton administrators also will receive a 2 percent raise,
according to the Courier-Leader.
SOURCE:
Lawton Courier Leader, "Lawton schools add full-day
kindergarten," June 23, 2008
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19795322&BRD=2188&PAG=461& dept_id=414962&rfi=6
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "MESSA targets Lawton schools for
attaining claims data," April 29, 2008
https://www.educationreport.org/9424
PETOSKEY TO CONTINUE SAVINGS WITH FOOD SERVICE PRIVATIZATION
PETOSKEY, Mich. — Petoskey schools has extended its contract
with Chartwells after saving $150,000 in its food service
program, according to the Petoskey News-Review.
Chartwells, which had been overseeing the supervision of
Petoskey's food service, took over operations last year as well,
the News-Review reported.
SOURCE:
Petoskey News-Review, "Petoskey School Board votes to continue
outsourcing food service," June 20, 2008
https://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/2008/06/20/news/doc485bb9006359e951733529.txt
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Petoskey schools contract for food
service," Aug. 7, 2007
https://www.educationreport.org/8874
DPS OVERSPENDING PEGGED AT $408 MILLION FOR 2009
DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools could cut 1,400 staff members
in an attempt to solve a $408 million overspending issue in the
fiscal 2009 budget, according to The Detroit News.
DPS enrollment is expected to drop to about 98,300 students when
classes resume in the fall, The News reported. That is down from
167,000 students in 1999-2000. The number of teachers during
that time span has fallen from 8,600 to 6,300. About 800
teachers could be included in any staff reductions.
SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Detroit schools' layoff target balloons to
1,400," June 21, 2008
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/SCHOOLS/
806190352/1409/METRO
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "DPS loses 12,000 students, $90
million in revenue," April 22, 2008
https://www.educationreport.org/9418
MESSA COSTS GO UP 17.5 PERCENT FOR SWAN VALLEY
SHIELDS, Mich. — Swan Valley schools is facing a $33,000 budget
hole, thanks in part to a 17.5 percent increase in union
insurance costs, according to The Saginaw News.
Swan Valley will pay MESSA about $190,000 more next year, The
News reported.
The Michigan Education Special Services Association is a third-party administrator affiliated with the Michigan Education
Association school employees union. MESSA outsources insurance
underwriting to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and then
resells the insurance to school districts.
"We were doing pretty good until we got hit with those
skyrocketing health care costs, which threw our budget off
$250,000," interim Superintendent Richard P. Dyer told the
school board, according to The News.
SOURCE:
The Saginaw News, "Swan Valley schools face deficit of $33K+,"
June 21, 2008
https://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/news-26/ 121402561298450.xml&coll=9
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Boards Empowered to
Save Insurance Dollars," Dec. 3, 2007
https://www.mackinac.org/9148
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org),
an online newspaper
published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy
(
https://www.mackinac.org),
a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan
research and educational institute.
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