Question: Why is tuition reimbursement only done once a year
(after the December Board of Education meeting)?
Answer: As explained in Article XXV, the
tuitioin reimbursement fund is a defined amount of money that is
available to two groups--teachers seeking their first Master's
Degree (Group 1) and teachers working beyond their first
Master's (Group 2). The tuition fund reimburses the teachers in
Group 1 first at the full rate per credit hour (as negotiated). All
remaining funds are available to teachers in Group 2. If the
amount of reimbursement being requested by teachers in Group 2
exceeds the remaining funds, then the amount per
credit hour will be adjusted. All of the tuition requests need to
be processed at the same time to determine the availability of
funds.
Question: What is the Suburban Health Consortium? Are the
Shaker Heights City Schools a member--why or why not?
Answer: The Suburban Health Consortium (SHC) is
a group of smaller school districts who have joined together as a
larger group to negotiate their insurance packages. The SHC is most
effective for small districts because they cannot generate enough
claims experiences to negotiate better rates. Shaker's size is
sufficient to stand alone.
The simple answer is "No, the Shaker schools do not belong to
the Suburban Health Consortium." There are some compelling reasons
why. For one thing, the SHC uses Medical Mutual as their health
care insurance. We use Anthem. There are significant differences
between these two providers. The Insurance Committee has
worked to keep Anthem as our provider since the Anthem network
includes both the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. There
are also issues regarding how the SHC claims are paid and
how one district's premiums could cover claims in another
district.
The SHTA participates in discussions regarding our health care
providers. The Insurance Committee meets regularly with the
district's Treasurer to review options and gather information.