School Boards’ Healthcare Bargaining Team Continues Quest to Hike Costs for Educators

September, 2021

In their zeal to saddle Vermont’s school employees with sharply higher healthcare costs, the Vermont School Boards Association yesterday signaled they had no intention to reach a negotiated settlement for a statewide healthcare package slated to go into effect in 2023. 

The VSBA team – after a day-long session aimed at finding common ground – made it clear that they do not have a problem with making healthcare even less accessible and more expensive for the thousands of public-school employees who are in the midst of yet another school year ravaged by COVID.

“In the middle of a pandemic – when our focus should be on doing what’s right for Vermont’s students – the VSBA team wants to reduce access to healthcare for thousands of our lowest paid school employees and make coverage more expensive for everyone else,” said Mike Campbell, a social studies teacher who serves as the co-chairman of the Commission on Public School Employee Health Benefits and as the chief negotiator on behalf of school employees. “After nine hours of stonewalling, the VSBA team made it clear that they had no intention of reaching a negotiated settlement. Instead, they continued their cynical disregard for the dedicated educators who have gone above and beyond for Vermont’s children.”

With their unwillingness to negotiate a settlement, the VSBA team has guaranteed that the costs of healthcare for the thousands of Vermonters working in our public schools will be decided by binding arbitration. That was the same path the VSBA took during the first round of statewide healthcare bargaining in 2019.  

Yesterday’s bargaining session came after a neutral factfinder issued a report that acknowledges saddling school employees – especially the lowest paid workers – with significant increases in healthcare expenses is wrong. For example, the VSBA’s plan to hike premium costs for support staff – custodians, bus drivers, paraeducators, cafeteria workers – “could significantly erode an employee’s annual wage,” according to John Cochran, the neutral factfinder. He added that a similar proposal by the VSBA team to significantly hike out-of-pocket costs on the lowest-paid school employees would be similarly troublesome.

“I do not believe this is the appropriate time to shift out-of-pocket costs to employees by the large amounts they are proposing,” Cochran wrote in recommending no change in out-of-pocket costs for support staff. He recommended only modest increases in out-of-pocket costs for teachers and other licensed school employees, and fully shot down the VSBA team’s attempt to saddle public school employees with higher premium rates than those paid by state employees or employees of the University of Vermont or state college systems. Cochran’s full report can be read below. 

Throughout this round of bargaining, the team representing school employees has sought to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for all, especially the lowest-paid workers. By contrast, the VSBA team has remained steadfast in its desire to make healthcare even more out of reach for educators.

“It’s truly shameful that the VSBA team is steadfast in its push to extract economic pain from those who work with Vermont’s children,” Campbell said. “Educators have been there throughout this pandemic, working harder than ever. It’s beyond our understanding that the VSBA team wants to saddle these dedicated Vermonters with higher healthcare costs.”

Now that the VSBA team has rejected all attempts at a settlement, both sides will submit their final proposals. An arbitration team will hear testimony from both sides before November 15 and will choose one of the proposals by December 15. That binding decision will go into effect on January 1, 2023.