'I DON'T HAVE A GOOD ANSWER TO THAT' SCHOOL BOARD MAY JOIN DISTRICT HEALTH PLAN, RAISING THORNY QUESTIONS

As School Board members prepare to vote next week on a novel proposal to make themselves eligible for district health insurance, questions remain over how the move would interfere with their ability to vote on related issues, including the district's active search for new insurance providers.

Next Monday, the School Board plans to consider amending its 2025-26 budget blueprint. Among the proposals is deciding whether to nearly double each member's annual compensation from $8,000 to $15,000, as well as whether to make board members able to opt into the district's health, vision and dental benefits.

The district estimated the benefits plan could cost up to $194,600 per year if all seven School Board members elected the most-expensive family plans.

Several board members signaled support for the benefits proposal at a committee meeting last week, saying the move would make joining the board more financially accessible and address concerns about health care uncertainty amid the Trump administration's cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.

"In order for board members to serve effectively, they have to be able to show up," board member Ali Muldrow said. "They have to be well enough to be at the table. They have to be able to address their own health needs and the health needs of their families. And I think that we have the ability to take care of one another in this way, and we should."

Under current guidelines for health insurance eligibility in the Madison Metropolitan School District, employees must work at least 19 hours a week or have contracts to work at least 50% of a full-time schedule. This school year, over 5,000 employees in the district are eligible, while about 1,300 are ineligible, according to the district.

About 69% of district employees were eligible for health insurance in 2024-25, according to figures reported to the state Department of Administration. The same year, the statewide average was 82% of school district employees.

Milwaukee is the only other district in Wisconsin to offer health benefits to school board members, according to research this summer by the Madison school district.

While the School Board's benefits proposal has gained support among its members, district administrators have cautioned the change may prevent members from voting on future health insurance decisions. An elected official who receives health insurance from their municipality must abstain from voting on related issues, such as health care contracts, according to a Wisconsin Ethics Commission opinion solicited by the district.

But how exactly the change would play out procedurally remains unclear. Milwaukee Public Schools' board members don't face the same conflict-of-interest concern since their district is self-insured. The Wisconsin State Legislature has an independent board that manages health insurance decisions for elected officials.

At the recent committee meeting, School Board member Maia Pearson asked a district attorney who would decide the health insurance plans if a majority of board members had conflicts of interest.

"Quite honestly, I don't have a good answer to that," said Benjamin Roovers, the district's associate general counsel. "If everybody's conflicted out, I don't know who makes the decision at that point."

The school district's health insurance plan is a multimillion-dollar decision actively before the School Board. In November last year, the board voted to put out a request for proposals to seek providers for the 2026-27 school year. By early next year, the district expects to receive quotes from providers. The School Board must vote on a contract by April next year, which would take effect in the summer.

For the last two years, the district's health insurance premiums have increased by double digits, according to an analysis from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. This budget cycle, the school district's health insurance costs grew by $11.8 million to $84.4 million.

Ian Folger, a school district spokesperson, said the district had no additional information about who would make decisions on health insurance if enough board members were unable to vote. Folger said as a matter of practice, the district doesn't comment on board proposals.

Statewide guidelines from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards would likely allow Madison board members to receive eligibility for health insurance, said Brock Fritz, the organization's director of communications.

"However, in practice, this authority would have to be carefully coordinated with the district's group insurance carrier(s)," Fritz said in an email. "How the board proceeds may depend upon the reason for the individual board member's conflict, which becomes a factual inquiry."

Christina Gomez Schmidt, a former Madison School Board member, said enrolling board members in the district's insurance would create a direct conflict of interest.

"Conflicts of interest do occasionally arise for individual School Board members. It happens," she said. "But the board should not, through its own actions, create direct conflicts of interest for a majority of the board. It sets up a scenario where a majority of the board members would not be able to vote in an important decision that affects the health care options for thousands of district employees."

Several board members raised questions about potential conflict of interests at last week's committee meeting and wanted more clarity from district administrators, including board President Nichelle Nichols. Other board members signaled their ongoing support.

"I continue to think that it's a good idea, because it's possible for more people to be interested and engaged this way," board member Blair Mosner Feltham said. "This is the right direction to be going in when we think about how we operate in the political climate that asks us to turn our backs on each other."

"I just need the legal analysis on the health insurance," board member Nicki Vander Meulen said. "Just because I may not use it does not mean that I have the right to decide that for future board members, and for that reason, I am choosing to vote for it."

The Cap Times asked each board member their position on the benefits proposal. School Board member Savion Castro wrote in a text that he was still weighing the pros and cons. Pearson said she was considering the idea, pointing to the accessibility goal of offering health insurance, the conflict of interest questions and how some part-time employees are currently ineligible for the benefits board members would receive.

"Part of our role with the budgetary piece is approving those things," Pearson said. "I do think it would be interesting to figure out or learn more about because it's unprecedented."

Board member Martha Siravo said she would like the district to provide more information on the conflict of interest questions and poll how many people on the board would opt into the health insurance, noting that she would decline the benefits.

"I don't want conflict like that to happen because that would compromise the ability to be effective, trusted officials," she said.

Still, Siravo favored approving eligibility.

"I'm also a person who believes that just because people haven't done something before doesn't mean you can't do it," she said. "I also think the more research that we can offer up to the public, and the more real numbers that could be offered there, would make more sense."

The board plans to vote Sept. 29 on extending benefits to themselves, as well as raising their own pay and several other budget amendments totaling more than $3.2 million. The School Board last increased each member's annual pay from $4,200 to $8,000 in 2015.

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