T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Marshalltown Schools Superintendent Theron Schutte talks potential health insurance changes at Wednesday’s school board committee meeting. Also pictured is Janelle Carter, school board vice president.

After months of planning and sometimes contentious public comments at meetings, the Marshalltown School Board is likely to take a vote on new health insurance plans for school staff at next week’s meeting.

The new plans were discussed at a school board committee meeting earlier this week. School board Vice President Janelle Carter and members Mike Miller and Sean Heitmann, as well as several administrators, discussed the potential changes and next steps.

“I don’t think we want to wait until April-May to make decisions on health insurance rates,” said Superintendent Theron Schutte about the vote to approve the changes.

The big questions that may be answered at next week’s meeting concern which plans district employees will be able to choose from and what the rates and cost-sharing will be between employees and the district.

The recommended action from administrators to the board is to eliminate the district’s current “premium,” low-cost plan for district employees while making tweaks to the two remaining plans. One goal of the proposed change is to ensure equity in what enrollees pay for insurance packages.

Currently, staff members with different classifications may pay different rates for the same coverage. Schutte said the plan is to change that.

“If you’re an employee who is eligible for insurance for our district, you’re going to pay the same amount for the same insurance coverage,” he said of the proposal.

Overall, the estimated insurance cost for Fiscal Year 2020 is $7.6 million, of which the district would pay about $5.3 million – the same amount it pays right now – and the insurance enrollees would pay the remainder if the changes are implemented.

Schutte said the district has been eating away at its health insurance reserves by offering plans that are not cost-efficient for the district due to providing well-below market rates to enrollees. To fix that, the goal is to change the plans and put some savings back into the reserve. In FY 2020, the estimated amount to be returned to the reserve is $115,000.

In previous meetings, Marshalltown Education Association union-affiliated teachers spoke in opposition to the district’s proposed health insurance changes. Along with potentially increasing rates for come employees, the teachers said the MEA had not been kept in the loop about the plans to change the district’s health insurance.

However, district administrators have said the changes have been planned for months and MEA representatives and staff had chances to go to meetings on the issue in that time.

“It’s been a great place, we’ve never ever had any complaints, but right now the uncertainty has us very nervous,” said MHS teacher Chad Pietig at the Feb. 18 school board meeting.

His sentiments were echoed by several other staff members at that meeting.

No MEA members, teachers or other school staff were present at Wednesday’s 4 p.m. school board committee meeting concerning the health insurance changes. The week has been busy for many staff members, as spring parent-teacher conferences have been ongoing.

Educating employees on their options

While plans are made for the school board to vote on dropping one of the district’s insurance plans and setting rates for FY 2020, administrators said they will make sure employees are educated about their options if changes are approved.

Miller suggested using an instructional video uploaded to YouTube as a possible education tool.

“I just thought it would be a good way to get this info out to people,” he said.

Schutte agreed that such a project could be a possibility. He also said the district’s professional development day April 22 could be used to share information about the impending insurance changes with all staff in the district.

Newbold said there could also be digital insurance plan comparison tools provided through Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which administers the district’s self-insured plans.

Carter said she recognizes that the changes to something as important as health insurance can be scary for some employees.

However, she, Miller and school administrators said many of the employees stand to save money and benefit from the new plans and that the changes being proposed were planned in good faith over several months with opportunities for staff and union leadership participation.

“Nobody wants to hurt anybody,” Carter said. “It’s to our disadvantage to do that.”

Due to changes in state law in 2017, several public-sector unions, including teachers unions like the MEA, lost the ability to negotiate formally on health insurance. They can still negotiate with administration on salaries.

If the board takes a vote on the proposed health insurance changes, those changes could be approved, disapproved or tabled for a later meeting by the board.

The next Marshalltown School Board meeting is set for 5 p.m. March 4 at the Central Administration Office, 1002 S. Third Ave.

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Contact Adam Sodders at

(641) 753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com