Teachers speak out against new district benefits package

By Grayson Sewell

WEST BEND — On July 10, the West Bend School Board approved a new health insurance and benefits package for district employees that would see their Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) taken away for a new insurance plan. On Monday, district teachers spoke out against the decision.

An HRA is similar to a Health Savings Account (HSA), but instead of allowing employees to pay medical expenses using pre-tax dollars like an HSA, an HRA reimburses an employee tax-free for qualified medical expenses. Additionally, an HSA works more like a bank account that the employee can put money into before it is taxed, whereas an HRA is an employer-funded plan.

The HRA plan that the district had gave district employees $3,000 annually, with the ability to roll over the unused funds each year, up to $9,000.

The district is set to move to a multi-pronged cost protection approach to replace the HRA model, with unspent HRA dollars being removed at the end of 2023.

The multi-pronged approach changes, which will begin Jan. 1, 2024, will see the district offer office copays, accident insurance coverage, critical illness insurance coverage, deductibles & out of pocket maximums of a two-times approach (example: one-person deductible of $1,500 plan would have $3,000 family deductible instead of $4,500 like a three-times approach that is used in the old plan) and pharmacy copays.

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According to the district, the changes would lead to lower deductibles and lower out-of-pocket maximums, and employees will have two plans to choose from and three family sizes to choose from for the plans. There will be additional incentives for the second plan and minimal employee premium increases from 2023.

One reason for dropping the current HRA model was that the district had to reserve an increasing amount of dollars each year due to rollovers, which led to less dollars being available for wage increases. Another was that not every employee used it the same and received the same benefit from it.

Teachers speak out

However, during the School Board meeting on Monday, teachers spoke out against the plan, with some saying they had been promised the HRA benefit as a form of compensation in addition to their salaries.

"I am concerned about the district’s decision to take HRA dollars away from teachers who had been promised this money as part of their compensation," said Shelly Krueger, a teacher in the district for 32 years. "... I urge the school board and the district administration to reconsider its decision to take HRA money away from our teachers, otherwise future promises may sound empty."

"It was understood that one of the possibilities in new health insurance plans meant that the HRA may be discontinued. It was not, however, made clear until the July 10th board meeting that teachers that have banked their HRA money, me as one of them, which was given to them as part of their compensation, would have that money taken away from them by the district without having any additional compensation in return," said teacher Hailey Dougherty. "There are teachers with thousands of dollars saved in their accounts, and taking away that money is robbing teachers of their overall compensation. I strongly encourage the board to speak with HR and find a solution to allow teachers to use this money that has been earned."

Other teachers expressed concern with how a change to their health insurance was communicated to them.

According to Jessica Kahler, who has taught in the district for two years, the information had been presented to teachers as a possible change in the spring, before it was sent to teachers in an email on the last day of school in a generic update email as what would be proposed in the new plan, with no indication that it was the final proposed plan.

"It was in a newsletter released on the last day of school in June when teachers were finishing grades, cleaning classrooms, working with student services for students needing additional support for the end of the year, we are meeting with administrators for end of the year meetings, scheduling make-up exams or returning classroom materials to the library," said Kahler. "That’s when a link in the newsletter was the clear communication that health care plans were changing?"

She said when the district where she used to teach began to make changes with no warning, she left after 14 years, and the minimal warning that had been given regarding changes to the employee health insurance plan concerned her.

Jessica Tortomasi, a teacher and member of the WBEA Leadership Team, said the collaborative nature process between the teachers and district that was described by Lenny Hansen, WBSD director of human resources, was not accurate.

"The descriptions of collaboration between the West Bend School District and the teachers on the benefits committee are inaccurate to the point of creating trust issues," said Tortomasi. "Staff members feel taken advantage of, lied to and devalued."

She said while teachers and support staff were included in the benefits committee, they did not have a voice in the room like Hansen had explained during the July 10 WBSB meeting.

"The teachers and support staff were essentially placed on a gag order no to discuss information talked about in these benefit committee meetings," said Tortomasi. "... Teachers and support staff were in the room, but never given the opportunity to actually give input, they were simply there to listen."