Pepsi Says No To Full Calorie Soda Sales in Schools, by 2012

Associated Press:

PepsiCo Inc. said Tuesday it will remove full-calorie sweetened drinks from schools in more than 200 countries by 2012, marking the first such move by a major soft-drink producer.

PepsiCo announced its plan the same day first lady Michelle Obama urged major companies to put less fat, salt and sugar in foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy products to children. Pepsi, the world's second-biggest soft-drink maker, and Coca-Cola Co., the biggest, adopted guidelines to stop selling sugary drinks in U.S. schools in 2006.

The World Heart Federation has been urging soft-drink makers for the past year to remove sugary beverages from schools. The group is looking to fight a rise in childhood obesity, which can lead to diabetes and other ailments.

PepsiCo's move is what the group had been seeking because it affects students through age 18, said Pekka Puska, president of the World Heart Federation, made up of heart associations around the world. In an interview from Finland, Dr. Puska said he hopes other companies feel pressured to take similar steps. "It may be not so well known in the U.S. how intensive the marketing of soft drinks is in so many countries,'' he said. Developing countries such as Mexico are particularly affected, he added.

Milwaukee Mayor Advocates teacher Healthcare Cost Reform

Alan Borsuk:

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is calling on Milwaukee Public Schools and union leaders to work quickly on ways to get more MPS employees to take less expensive health insurance.

In an interview, Barrett said, "I'm calling on the school district, on the School Board, on the representatives of the employees, to meet as quickly as possible to see if they can find a solution to stave off" what lies ahead for MPS, including projections of cuts in hundreds of teaching jobs and increases in average class size.

"I believe a big component of that is putting more people into the lower cost health care plan," he said. MPS offers two health plans, and about 80% of employees take one that costs $7,380 a year more for a family than the other plan.

Teacher Unions Trade High Health Care Costs for Members: "Simple Change Could Ease Milwaukee Public Schools' Budget Crunch"

Alan Borsuk:

But changing benefits is, of course, a matter for labor negotiations, and the unions, particularly the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, don't want to change what they have.

Union's response

Mike Langyel, president of the MTEA, said in a lengthy telephone conversation that the union just does not accept that there would be any savings by shifting more, if not all, employees to the lower cost plan. He called the notion that money could be saved this way "a fantasy" and accused Bonds and Superintendent William Andrekopoulos of engaging in "a theatrical production" aimed at making teachers scapegoats for MPS' problems.

He said teachers earned their health insurance by accepting lower wage increases, going back more than 20 years, and members feel strongly about the Aetna plan. Langyel also questioned the honesty of the administration's cost figures, although he did not give any specific instance that he believed was wrong.

"This is a calculated attempt by this administration to provide false choices," Langyel said. "This will not solve the funding problems of this district one bit. . . .  The needs of this district are not going to be met on the backs of those people who are already sacrificing to be Milwaukee teachers."

Langyel said that if all MPS employees were on the HMO plan, that would drive up the costs of that plan to a point that might eliminate the claimed savings. MPS administrators agree that the actual results of such a switch are not known and most likely would be less than the simple calculation that yielded the $47 million figure. Many older employees with higher health care costs are now on the Aetna plan, for one thing. But they do not agree there would be no savings.

This strategy is not unique to Milwaukee.

Seattle Public Schools Appeal Discovery Math Implementation Court Loss

Martha McLaren:

Today we received notice of the Seattle School District's decision to appeal the Decision of Judge Spector which required the SPS board to reconsider its high school math text adoption vote.

I am deeply disappointed that SPS will funnel more resources into this appeal, which, I suspect, will be more costly than following the judge's instruction to reconsider.

Our attorney tells me: ".... I'll put in a notice of appearance, and then we wait for the District to complete the record by having the documents and transcripts transmitted to the Court of Appeals. They write the first brief, due 45 days after the record is complete.

Milwaukee Public Schools faces a crisis in both accountability and democracy

Milwaukee School Board member Bruce Thompson:

For Milwaukee Public Schools, the financial crisis that many of us have been warning about is here. As principals get their initial budgets, they are faced with cutting teachers; larger class sizes; the loss of specialty teachers such as those in art, music, physical education; and the lost of librarians. Perversely, schools that have the best student achievement are often the hardest hit, since the middle-class students attracted to these schools bring less aid with them.

While many other school systems (and other government units) are also facing cuts brought on by exploding health care costs and the weak economy, MPS has been particularly hard hit. And much of the MPS pain is self-inflicted. Next year, MPS is facing a 77% fringe benefit rate, meaning that the cost to the district of an employee is 77% more than that employee's pay. If the unfunded liability for retiree benefits were correctly included, the fringe benefit rate would rise to almost 104%, meaning that the cost to the school district of an employee is more than twice that employee's pay.

The biggest factor in the exploding benefits cost is the cost of health care. MPS offers two plans, one of which costs MPS twice as much per employee as the other. Yet because MPS pays the full cost of the plans, there is no incentive for employees to pick the less-expensive plan. Employees can retire at age 55 and continue to have MPS pay for their health insurance at the rate it did when they retired. Pensions have an employer and an employee contribution, but MPS pays both parts.

New Jersey Gov. Christie, lawmakers propose sweeping pension, health care changes for public employees

Claire Heininger:

Gov. Chris Christie and lawmakers of both parties will unveil a series of sweeping pension and benefit reforms Monday that could affect every public employee in New Jersey while saving the state billions of dollars, according to four officials with direct knowledge of the plan.

The proposals would require workers and retirees at all levels of government and local school districts to contribute to their own health care costs, ban part-time workers at the state and local levels from participating in the underfunded state pension system, cap sick leave payouts for all public employees and constitutionally require the state to fully fund its pension obligations each year.

Details of the four-bill package to be introduced Monday were provided to The Star-Ledger on the condition of anonymity because the four officials were not authorized to speak in advance.

The proposals go further than several past efforts at reining in taxpayer-funded pension and benefit costs, and if enacted would represent a major early victory for the new Republican governor and Democrats who control the state Legislature. But supporters anticipate an angry response from public employee and teachers unions that wield considerable power throughout the state -- though lawmakers argue rank-and-file workers would have safer pensions than before.

Christie's office declined to comment, as did top Democrats and Republicans involved in crafting the bills.

All sides had made their feelings clear last month, when Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) announced the upper house's intentions to fix a system that would otherwise "go bankrupt." Lawmakers of both parties pledged their support, with Christie saying "bipartisan action is critical to reforming a broken pension and benefits system."

Abstinence-Only Education Works According To New Study

Frank James:

Abstinence-only education has been a frequent point of contention between conservatives and liberals.

Conservatives, particularly religious ones, have argued that young people need to be taught the moral dimension of sexual activity as part of abstinence education and urged to avoid sex until marriage.

For those reasons, liberals and many health and education professionals have argued against abstinence-only education. Many of them have preferred comprehensive sex education.

Now a new study indicates that abstinence-only education works even when it doesn't have a moral component.

Milwaukee schools face booming retiree health care costs

Erin Richards:

The Milwaukee School Board has spent 20 years ignoring a "fiscal time bomb" in the form of generous and unfunded health insurance benefits for retired MPS teachers and staff that will cost the district $5 billion by 2016, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

On Monday, the president of the conservative institute that conducted the report, George Lightbourn, said the study raises serious questions about the School Board's ability to provide financial oversight of the district and that it lends support to changing the governance structure of MPS.

The report comes in the same week that the Legislature is expected to convene a special session to consider a bill that would give the Milwaukee mayor power to appoint a superintendent and authority over the district's budget.

"Even if the mayor took over (the school system), the mayor would have to deal with this thing," Lightbourn said. "But it's more likely that somebody who has a different approach to this might actually look at this and if nothing else say: 'We have to slow down these costs.' "

Poor Children Likelier to Get Antipsychotics

Duff Wilson:

New federally financed drug research reveals a stark disparity: children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to receive the drugs for less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts, the data shows.

Those findings, by a team from Rutgers and Columbia, are almost certain to add fuel to a long-running debate. Do too many children from poor families receive powerful psychiatric drugs not because they actually need them -- but because it is deemed the most efficient and cost-effective way to control problems that may be handled much differently for middle-class children?

The questions go beyond the psychological impact on Medicaid children, serious as that may be. Antipsychotic drugs can also have severe physical side effects, causing drastic weight gain and metabolic changes resulting in lifelong physical problems.

Detroit Teachers Loaning the District 10K over Two years, 1% Raise in the Third Year

Chastity Pratt Dawsey:

Boos and jeers filled Cobo Hall this afternoon as Detroit Public Schools teachers reacted to details in a proposed contract agreement with the district.

The tentative agreement [Master Settlement PDF] includes:

• Teachers loaning the district $10,000 each over two years with deductions taken from their paychecks.
• A base salary increase of 1% in the third year of the three-year contract.
• Increase in health insurance costs.
• Plus a plethora of school reforms that include a peer evaluation process.

Teachers union president Keith Johnson told the crowd that the contract may not be exactly what they want but the alternative is to have the district declare bankruptcy, possibly leaving many of them unemployed.

"I cannot, I will not gamble, play Russian roulette, call the bluff of the district," Johnson said.

Laconia: School Board sees itself in budgetary vise

Gail Ober:

School District administrators estimate that under the provisions of the city's tax cap, the school district could see as little as $142,000 in additional money for next year's local budget.

In addition, all three union contracts are up for renegotiation and administrators also learned this week that health insurance rates could rise as much as 26.2 percent -- or a maximum increase of $1,064,000.

The provisions of the current tax cap allow next year's budget to increase by a "capped amount" that is based on the Consumer Price Index-Urban -- a standard measure of inflation -- and the dollar amount of building permits in a 12-month time period from April 1 to March 31.

For example, the 2009-10 budget was based on a CPI-U of 3.8 percent, meaning that the local portion of the school budget was $20,001,940 and was multiplied by 3.8 percent -- giving the district the potential to raise an additional $760,000.

That increase was added to the local school tax rate of $9.32 per $1,000 evaluation multiplied by the dollar amount of building permits as of March 31, 2008 -- or new growth -- giving the district an additional $242,000.

With adjustments and according to the cap, the school district could have raised an additional $1.1 million for this school year -- a number that was reduced by $500,000 in June by the Laconia City Council.

Beefing up: High school football players are bigger but not necessarily healthier

Eric Cexheimer & John Maher:

Last weekend, two football teams faced off in a fierce divisional rivalry. Both boasted intimidating offenses built around sumo-sized linemen; half of the two teams' centers, guards and tackles tipped the scales above 300 pounds.

The teams aren't from the NFL. They aren't big-time colleges, or even Division II or III squads. They are the Central Texas high schools of McNeil and Cedar Park. The largest of their linemen is approaching 350 pounds.

Once a rarity, teenaged mega-players have become a common sight under the Friday night lights. "If you were to weigh the lines of high school football teams, they're significantly higher in recent years," said Brian Carr, a physical therapist and trainer at Georgetown High School. "Compared to just 15 years ago, there's a huge difference."

Doctors and trainers are reporting increases in certain injuries -- stress-related muscle and ligament tears, knee strains and foot fractures -- that can be directly attributed to the strains placed on developing bodies by extra bulk. Weight-related medical problems are also beginning to crop up among the giant teenagers.

School district contracts push up tax levy

Jo Egelhoff:

At a time when taxpayers are struggling in this destabilizing recession and most are not seeing wage gains, the Appleton Area School District (AASD) has proposed a budget that increases the tax levy by 9.7%.

At a time when the state budget is suffering billion dollar deficits, when the state has cut its support of AASD, when enrollment has declined by 220 students, and when inflation is 0%, still the district's total budget increased by over $3 million (from $176 million to $179 million)!

The district's budget increase is primarily fueled by employee compensation increases, including an 8.2% increase in health care benefits - for a benefit plan that is already a Cadillac. Cost reductions could most certainly be achieved via increased efforts to decrease utilization and increased premium participation (school employees pay only 5% of their health insurance premium that for a family is almost $20,000 a year) and/or simply putting the very costly health insurance program out to bid. As it is now, the union dictates that the health insurance must be carried by an arm of WEAC.

In addition, though the budget reflects a wage freeze for administration employees, no such offer has been forthcoming from the teachers union.

Madison School District & Madison Teachers Union Reach Tentative Agreement: 3.93% Increase Year 1, 3.99% Year 2; Base Rate $33,242 Year 1, $33,575 Year 2: Requires 50% MTI 4K Members and will "Review the content and frequency of report cards"

via a kind reader's email (200K PDF):

The Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison Teachers Inc. reached a tentative agreement Tuesday evening on the terms and conditions of a new two-year Collective Bargaining Agreement for MTI's 2,600 member teacher bargaining unit. Negotiations began April 15.

The Contract, for July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2011, needs ratification from both the Board of Education and MTI. The Union will hold its ratification meeting on Wednesday, October 14, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Alliant Energy Center, Dane County Forum. The Board of Education will tentatively take up the proposal in a special meeting on October 19 at 5:00 p.m.

Terms of the Contract include:

2009-2010 2010-11

Base Salary Raise - 1.00% Base Salary Raise - 1.00%
Total Increase Including Benefits - 3.93% Total Increase Including Benefits - 3.99%
Bachelor's Degree Base Rate $33,242 Bachelor's Degree Base Rate $33,575

A key part of this bargain involved working with the providers of long term disability insurance and health insurance. Meetings between MTI Executive Director John Matthews and District Superintendent Dan Nerad and representatives of WPS and GHC, the insurance carriers agreed to a rate increase for the second year of the Contract not to exceed that of the first year. In return, the District and MTI agreed to add to the plans a voluntary health risk assessment for teachers. The long term disability insurance provider reduced its rates by nearly 25%. The insurance cost reductions over the two years of the contract term amount to roughly $1.88 million, were then applied to increase wages, thus reducing new funds to accomplish this.

The new salary schedule increase at 1% per cell, inclusive of Social Security and WRS, amount to roughly $3.04 million. Roughly 62% of the salary increase, including Social Security and WRS, was made possible by the referenced insurance savings.

Key contract provisions include:

Inclusion in the Contract of criteria to enable salary schedule progression by one working toward the newly created State teacher licensure, PI 34. Under the new Contract provision, one can earn professional advancement credits for work required by PI 34.
• Additive pay regarding National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, i.e. an alternative for bargaining unit professionals who are not teachers (nurses, social workers, psychologists, et al) by achieving the newly created Master Educator's License.

• Continuance of the Teacher Emeritus Retirement Program (TERP).

• The ability after retirement for one to use their Retirement Insurance Account for insurance plans other than those specified in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This will enable one to purchase coverage specific to a geographic area, if they so choose, or they may continue coverage with GHC or WPS - the current health insurance providers.
  For elementary teachers, the frequency and duration of meetings has been clarified, as have several issues involving planning time. All elementary teachers and all elementary principals will receive a joint letter from Matthews and Nerad explaining these Contract provisions.

• For high school teachers who volunteer for building supervision, there is now an option to enable one to receive compensation, rather than compensatory time for the service. And there is a definition of what "class period" is for determining compensation or compensatory time.

• For elementary and middle school teachers, MTI and the District will appoint a joint committee for each to study and recommend the content and frequency of report cards.
  For elementary specials (e.g. art, music) teachers, the parties agreed to end the class and a half, which will mean that class sizes for specials will be similar to the class size for elementary classroom teachers.

• For coaches, and all others compensated on the extra duty compensation schedule, the additive percentage paid, which was frozen due to the State imposed revenue controls, will be restored.

• School year calendars were agreed to through 2012-2013.

• Also, MTI and the District agreed to a definite five-year exemption to the Contract work assignment clause to enable the District to assist with funding of a community-based 4-year-old kindergarten programs, provided the number of said 4-K teachers is no greater than the number of District employed 4-K teachers, and provided such does not cause bargaining unit members to be affected by adverse actions such as lay off, surplus and reduction of hours/contract percentage, due to the District's establishment of, and continuance of, community based [Model III] 4-K programs. (See note below.)

MTI Executive Director John Matthews said that he was glad that the parties were able to successfully resolve several matters which were raised in negotiations. In all, 67 Contract provisions were amended or created in this year's bargaining.

Superintendent Daniel Nerad said, "I am very pleased that we have reached this tentative agreement after an extensive period of bargaining. We have addressed a significant number of contract language related items. A key example lies in the area of elementary planning time. Of greatest significance to the District is an agreement over language that would allow for the implementation of a four-year-old kindergarten program."
"Also, in working with MTI we have been able to provide a salary increase, in part, as a result of reductions in health care costs. I appreciate working with John Matthews in accomplishing these insurance savings. I look forward to presenting this tentative agreement to the Board of Education in the near future."
John Matthews said, "But the economic provisions do not adequately reward those who have made the Madison schools among the best in the country. With the State usurping local control as regards to school funding, this is a matter that the State must fix; there is nothing local school boards can do, given the State's heavy hand. The State must realize that their funding formula for education is inadequate, and that it is causing the dissolution of the great education once available to Wisconsin children. That must be fixed and it is up to the Governor and the Legislators to do it."

For more information and to coordinate interviews, contact:
MMSD: Ken Syke, 663-1903 or Joe Quick, 663-1902
MTI: John Matthews, 257-0491

There are three models for how 4-K instruction is delivered, i.e., where and by whom:
Model I - in a school district site and by district-employed teachers
Model II - in preschool/child care centers and by district-employed teachers
Model III - in preschool/child care centers and by center-employed teachers

NEA Internal Survey on Health Care Reveals "Huge Divide Between NEA Executives and Presidents and Rank and File

Mike Antonucci:

The National Education Association has appeared front and center in the debate over reform of the health care and insurance system, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying and media buys. But a 2008 internal survey of NEA members and officers on health care issues indicates varying levels of enthusiasm for proposed reforms.

Though the survey itself was not made available to EIA, the union's collective bargaining and member advocacy department has been briefing union activists on its findings throughout 2009. I have posted a link to the relevant information on EIA's Declassified page. The report included statistics such as the average health insurance premium paid in 2007 by NEA members was $603 for employee-only coverage - about 12.6% of the total cost. Eight affiliates reported members paid nothing.

NEA commissioned the polling firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner to learn member and officer attitudes about health care reform. Most of those surveyed were concerned about the system, but satisfied with their own health care. NEA members were also more favorably disposed towards government health care programs than the average American.

Still, the survey found that NEA members were "split on whether government or employers should provide health care" and that a "Massachusetts-style proposal [is] susceptible to arguments against it."

Do Schools Need More PE Time?

Nancy Armour:

The gym at Eberhart Elementary School is bright and spacious -- with high ceilings, several basketball hoops, even a large, colorful climbing wall.
But for much of the day, the gym doubles as a cafeteria where the school's 1,800-plus students are offered breakfast and lunch.

There's another gym on the fourth floor, but it's so old it has basketball hoops attached to ladders. Time and space limitations mean each class gets physical education just once a week for 40 minutes.

In the fight against childhood obesity, getting kids moving is one of the most effective ways to combat the problem. But only Illinois and Massachusetts require P.E. classes for all kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. And, as Eberhart's example shows, even those requirements sometimes are not enough.

"I understand the funding issue. I understand the space issue," said Betty Hale, one of two P.E. teachers at Eberhart. But "our children are getting shortchanged."

Radical idea: Ask what we get for the money

Daniel Weintraub:

No matter what happens in the special election May 19, California's government finances will remain a mess. It took years of mismanagement and economic misfortune for the state to dig itself into this hole, and it is going to take many years to climb out of it.

As the climbing begins, the state needs to make fundamental changes in the way it collects and spends the taxpayers' money. Otherwise, the next generation of lawmakers will repeat the same old mistakes as their predecessors.

Proposition 1A, with its rainy-day fund, would be one improvement, requiring lawmakers to set money aside in good times to cushion the blow of the next downturn. A bipartisan commission that has been studying the tax system will soon release its recommendations on how to make California's revenue collections fairer and more stable. That could also improve things.

Selling Obesity At School

NY Times Editorial:

The federal school lunch program, which subsidizes meals for 30 million low-income children, was created more than half a century ago to combat malnutrition. A breakfast program was added during the 1960s, and both were retooled a decade ago in an attempt to improve the nutritional value of food served at school.

More must now be done to fight the childhood obesity epidemic, which has triggered a frightening spike in weight-related disorders like diabetes, high-blood pressure and heart disease among young people. And the place to start is the schools, where junk foods sold outside the federal meals programs -- through snack bars, vending machines and à la carte food lines -- has pretty much canceled out the benefits of all those healthy lunches and breakfasts.

An Outbreak of Autism, or a Statistical Fluke?

Donald McNeil, Jr.:

Ayub Abdi is a cute 5-year-old with a smile that might be called shy if not for the empty look in his eyes. He does not speak. When he was 2, he could say "Dad," "Mom," "give me" and "need water," but he has lost all that.

He does scream and spit, and he moans a loud "Unnnnh! Unnnnh!" when he is unhappy. At night he pounds the walls for hours, which led to his family's eviction from their last apartment.

As he is strapped into his seat in the bus that takes him to special education class, it is hard not to notice that there is only one other child inside, and he too is a son of Somali immigrants.

"I know 10 guys whose kids have autism," said Ayub's father, Abdirisak Jama, a 39-year-old security guard. "They are all looking for help."

Autism is terrifying the community of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, and some pediatricians and educators have joined parents in raising the alarm. But public health experts say it is hard to tell whether the apparent surge of cases is an actual outbreak, with a cause that can be addressed, or just a statistical fluke.

Retiree health debt can't be ignored

The Orange County Register:

State legislators no sooner congratulated themselves for solving California's $42 billion budget deficit than state Controller John Chiang insensitively reminded them they are continually adding to an even larger debt for retiree health and dental benefits.

The $42 billion deficit supposedly was wiped away by last week's narrowly approved $12.5 billion in new taxes, $14.9 billion in spending cuts and $11 billion in new borrowing in adopted budgets for 2008-09 and 2009-10. We're skeptical considering the state's typically rosy revenue projections, the continual economic decline that is likely to reduce revenue even more and voters' unlikely approval of borrowing schemes on the May 19 ballot to bridge the budget gap.

However that pans out, the state already owes another $48.2 billion in unpaid costs for retiree health and dental benefits. This year, 392,000 state employees and retirees whose health coverage is provided by the California Public Employees' Retirement System cost the state $3.7 billion. The health benefits are separate from CalPERS' retirement fund, and are financed from employer and member payments.

In effect the state has paid the bare minimum to cover its annual costs, as an overspending consumer might squeak by making the minimum monthly credit card payment. But the debt mounts.

L.A. Unified healthcare contract to preserve free lifetime benefits

Jason Song & Howard Blume:

A new three-year agreement on healthcare announced Wednesday by the Los Angeles Unified School District will preserve a generous benefits package for about 250,000 employees and their families while also limiting district costs.

But the tentative deal also increases the district's ongoing budget deficit and could lead to higher medical expenses for employees if healthcare costs continue to rise sharply.

The agreement maintains free lifetime benefits for district employees (there is no monthly payment to the district). But the pact sets benchmarks for when new workers become eligible.

Settling the healthcare issue -- the teachers union's top priority in negotiations -- could diminish the immediate possibility of a strike. Just one day earlier, United Teachers Los Angeles leaders had scheduled a strike authorization vote over protracted contract talks.

Is Recess Necessary?

Jay Matthews:

I often spout opinions on matters about which I know nothing, so I understand when my favorite peer group -- the American people -- does the same. The latest example is a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults [931K PDF] by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which specializes in public health projects, and Sports4Kids, a national nonprofit organization that supports safe and healthy playtime in low-income elementary schools.

According to the survey's press release, "seven out of 10 Americans disagree with schools' policies of eliminating or reducing recess time for budgetary, safety or academic reasons." I realize most people don't know how poisonous recess can be for urban schools with severe academic needs, but I was surprised to see the news release fail to acknowledge this. It even suggests, without qualification, that "in low-income communities" recess time "offers one of our best chances to help children develop into healthy, active adults who know how to work together and resolve conflicts."

Few Americans have an opportunity to experience what teaching in urban schools is like. The people I know who have done so have developed a well-reasoned antipathy for the typical half-hour, go-out-and-play-but-don't-kill-anybody recess. In my forthcoming book, "Work Hard. Be Nice," about the Knowledge Is Power Program, I describe the classroom and playground chaos KIPP co-founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin encountered before starting their first KIPP fifth grade in a Houston public elementary school, the beginning of their successful program:

Head of Teachers' Union Offers to Talk on Tenure and Merit Pay

Sam Dillon:

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Monday that given the economic crisis, her union would be willing to discuss new approaches to issues like teacher tenure and merit pay.

"Faced with declining tax revenues, state and local governments are cutting" education budgets nationwide, Ms. Weingarten said in a speech to education policy makers in Washington.

"In the spirit of this extraordinary moment, and as a pledge of shared responsibility, I'll take the first step," she said. "With the exception of vouchers, which siphon scarce resources from public schools, no issue should be off the table, provided it is good for children and fair to teachers."

It is unclear how much practical effect Ms. Weingarten's speech will have on the stance her 1.4-million-member union and its locals take in negotiations with school districts or in lobbying state legislatures.

"Good News isn't News": Addressing Health Care Costs

FoxPolitics via a Steve Loehrke email:

Fremont School District Board of Education and FoxPolitics reader, wrote to update me with positive (!!) financial news from a school district. Refreshing!

In early March, 2007, the Post-Crescent, striving to illustrate the Freedom of Information Act for readers, requested invoices for legal charges from Weyauwega Fremont (W-F), a 1000-student school district west of Appleton. Per one of the newspaper's articles at the time:

Using the state's Open Records law, the newspaper fought for 10 months to see detailed invoices for attorney services after the district released heavily redacted copies ....

(P-C, March 11, 2007. The articles are no longer linkable. You can pay the P-C for an archived copy, or access articles from 1999 and later, free with your library card via Newsbank on the Appleton Public Library website.)

Loehrke objected to carte blanche (unredacted) release of the information and the P/C suit ended up costing district taxpayers about $25,000.

Quoting again from the March 11, 2007 P/C article:

District officials maintain they have not broken the law nor spent money irresponsibly, that the media is hyping the issue, and a handful of antagonistic residents are digging for dirt where none exists.

"We have willingly and openly responded promptly to more than 30 open records requests in the last year," school board president Steve Loehrke wrote in an e-mail to The P-C this past week.

Much of the legal work paid for by W-F and questioned by the P-C, was in response to actions by district retirees unhappy with health insurance changes the board and administration were considering - changes which ultimately led to substantial savings for the District.

Loehrke is proud of his school district and concerned that good news isn't reported.

To update you, our school district changed to a self-funded insurance plan and got rid of the WEAC owned insurance carrier. This year the school district put $800,000 (8%) of our budget into the Fund Balance. Tax rate is lowest of all surrounding school districts. Test scores are up. Permanently fixed the OPEB [Other Post-Employment Benefits] problem. Balanced the next year's budget. Many things the newspaper could have and should have reported. Instead they wanted a whipping boy to help them sell papers. They never showed up at this year's annual meeting. News silence. Good news isn't news.

I talked with W-F District Administrator Jim Harlan to confirm Loehrke's claims, and if accurate, to get the low-down on how the district achieved all this good stuff.

It seems to me the primary story is one of doggedly doing everything they can to reduce costs - to reduce costs that don't impact learning in the classroom. Lo and behold, one way W-F reduced costs was by controlling - surprise, surprise - health insurance costs.

Like the typical school district, teachers had a contracted right to choose the district's health insurance carrier. So again, like most other districts in the state, WEAC members chose the Insurance Trust (WEA IT) run by their union. With no competitive bidding.

In negotiations, Harlan and his teachers agreed to form a committee that would simply look into a possible change. Ultimately all parties saw it as a win-win for the district to self-fund their insurance program. Premiums are lower and coverage is better than the WEA IT program - so good in fact, the district was able to add dollars to their reserve fund, as Loehrke mentions above. ($200,000 of the $800,000 mentioned by Loehrke came from positive performance of the self-funded health insurance program.)

Those dang OPEBs
"Other Post-Employment Benefits" are a huge budget item for most school districts - districts that years ago agreed to fund health insurance benefits for retirees from as early as age 55, to age 65 when employees are eligible for Medicare coverage. As you can imagine, this gets to be a pretty hefty bill, with family coverage per retiree at $14,000 annually and up. (Here's a great primer on the extent of the OPEB problem in Wisconsin. To get a good overview, read the Executive Summary at the beginning and the Recommendations section at the end.)

For newly hired employees, W-F is phasing in a defined contribution retirement plan meant to fund retiree health care coverage. The District now establishes (and funds half of) a 403(b) (like a 401(k), only used by public sector and nonprofit corp. employees) that ultimately is meant to pay for health insurance benefits on retirement. And it's portable - traveling with a teacher if he moves to another district - or another position.

Other school districts, and several local governments have huge health insurance and OPEB challenges. Kudos to W-F for addressing theirs.

Much more on Steve Loehrke here.

An In-depth Look at School Lunches on Long Island

Newsday:

Newsday examined hundreds of school menus, budgets and vending machine contracts, and spoke to professionals and leaders. What we found might disturb you.

District Improvement Plan

East Hartford Public Schools [300K PDF]:

The East Hartford Public Schools District Improvement Plan represents the evolution of work begun five years ago. Although it has undergone several transformations as a result of extensive professional development, it continues to serve as the blueprint for action and a path to excellence.

The generally upward trajectories in student achievement confirm the application of researched-based strategies can make a difference in student achievement. This result has provided encouragement and motivation to staff.

Although pleased with the district's accomplishments and the progress we have made, sustained focus, reinforcement, and fidelity of implementation must continue to be priority. Accomplishments, along with current work in progress, encompass many important areas of focus:

Kate Farrish:

The board of education has unanimously endorsed a state-mandated district improvement plan that aims to raise standardized test scores, reduce school suspensions and narrow significant achievement gaps between black and white students and poor students and their wealthier peers.

Superintendent of Schools Marion H. Martinez will present the plan, approved Monday night, to the State Board of Education on Oct. 2. It will then be detailed for the public at a local board meeting on Oct. 6. The state requires such plans when districts or schools have been deemed "in need of improvement" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The plan calls for raising the percentage of students reaching proficiency in reading, writing and math scores on the Connecticut Mastery Test and Connecticut Academic Performance Test by at least 15 points over the next three years. It also calls for reducing the test score gap between racial and ethnic groups and socioeconomic groups by 30 percent in the same three years. Currently, for example, there is a 30 percent average gap in reading scores between those groups in grades 3 to 9, and the plan calls for the gap to be narrowed by 9 percentage points -- a 30 percent drop -- by 2010-11.

Reinventing the School Lunch

TedTalks:

Speaking at the 2007 EG conference, "renegade lunch lady" Ann Cooper shares her passionate belief in remaking the school lunch. She uses scathing language to describe how most American kids are fed at the noon bell, out of cans, boxes and plastic bags -- sowing the seeds of the obesity epidemic that is spreading from the US around the globe. But, she says, there's a coming revolution in the way kids eat at school -- local, sustainable, seasonal and even educational food. (Recorded December 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Duration: 19:42.)

School Governance in Washington, DC: The "Nuclear Option"

Paul Tough:

Today's paper brings the news that Michelle Rhee, the superintendent of the D.C. public schools, has come up with a Plan B to use if the D.C. teachers union refuses to accept her proposed new contract.

Plan A, as I wrote last week, was a contract under which teachers could give up tenure in return for large pay increases. Plan B, essentially, is a system in which teachers lose tenure and don't get large pay increases. Rhee says she and the state superintendent could also change the licensing requirements for the district's teachers so as to require them to demonstrate classroom performance--the kind that would have earned them big bonuses under the contract--merely to keep their jobs.

The story in the Washington Post suggests that Rhee is not only aware of the city's generation gap among teachers, she also plans to take advantage of it.

Rhee's ultimate goal is clear: to weed the District's instructional corps of underperformers and remake it, at least in part, with younger, highly energized graduates of such alternative training programs as Teach for America, where she began her career. Unlike many tenured Washington teachers, those emerging from such programs are unlikely to invest their entire working lives in education. But they will, in Rhee's estimation, be more inclined to embrace her core message: that children can learn no matter what economic and social conditions they face beyond the classroom and that teachers should be held directly accountable for their progress through test scores and other measurements.

A Health Care Cost Win for the Madison School District & A Pay Raise for Madison Teacher's Clerical Unit

Sandy Cullen:

Nearly 200 employees of the Madison School District who currently have health insurance provided by Wisconsin Physicians Service will lose that option, saving the district at least $1.6 million next year.

But the real savings in eliminating what has long been the most expensive health insurance option for district employees will come in "cost avoidance" in the future, said Bob Nadler, director of human resources for the district.

"It's a big deal for us - it really is," Nadler said.

"It certainly will be a benefit to both our employees and the taxpayers," said Superintendent Art Rainwater, adding that the savings were applied to salary increases for the employees affected.

The change, which will take effect Aug. 1, is the result of an arbitrator's ruling that allows the district to eliminate WPS coverage as an option for members of the clerical unit of Madison Teachers Inc., and instead offer a choice of coverage by Group Health Cooperative, Dean Care or Physicians Plus at no cost to employees. Those employees previously had a choice between only WPS or GHC.

Currently, the district pays $1,878.44 a month for each employee who chooses WPS family coverage and $716.25 for single coverage.

For Dean Care, the next highest in cost, the district will pay $1,257.68 per employee a month for family coverage and $478.21 for single coverage.

This year, WPS raised its costs more than 11 percent while other providers raised their costs by 5 percent to 9 percent, Nadler said.

Related:

• The high cost of WPS insurance has been a frequent topic in recent Madison School Board races and referendums.
• Concessions Before Negotiations
• Arbitrator's Award (Sherwood Malamud) 50 Page 255K PDF
• Jason Shephard: WPS Insurance proves costly.
• KJ Jakobson: Madison Schools Health Care Cost / Benefit Analysis

The tradeoff between WPS's large annual cost increases, salaries and staff layoffs will certainly be a much discussed topic in the next round of local teacher union negotiations.

IS AP Good for Everyone?

Jay Matthews:

I am no match for Chester E. Finn Jr. in a debate. The president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and author of "Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik" (Princeton University Press) is feared by many ideological adversaries for his sharp wit and inexhaustible erudition. But I am taking him on anyway in this column because he suggested recently in his own weekly Gadfly column that I was promoting Advanced Placement courses for all students, even those unable or unwilling to handle their difficulties. I thought this would also be a good way to explore the limits of the movement to make high schools more challenging, a very lively issue in our highest-performing schools. Here we go:

Mathews: I want to get to the broader issues pretty quickly, but let's deal first with your wicked poke in my ribs. I don't believe I have ever said AP is for everyone. My view has always been that AP is for far more people than are allowed to, or encouraged to, enroll in AP (and International Baccalaureate) courses. There is lots of data to support this, including College Board analysis of PSAT scores showing two or three times as many people could handle and benefit from AP than actually take the course. Have you got a citation showing I said any such silly thing? If not, please debase yourself with an apology to my readers so we can get to the fascinating topic of how much AP and IB should kids have.

Related:

• Dane County, Wisconsin AP Course Offering Comparison.
• November, 2005 Grant to Increase Madison AP Course Offerings.

America's Most Obese Cities

Rebecca Ruiz:

To better understand the local and state implications of the obesity epidemic, we ranked the nation's heaviest cities. In doing so, we discovered states with multiple offenders, metropolitan areas with expanding waistlines and a high representation of Southern cities. Worse yet, after claiming the title of the most sedentary city, Memphis, Tenn., has also ranked first as the country's most obese.

Behind the Numbers
To determine which cities were the most obese, we looked at 2006 data on body mass index, or BMI, collected by the Centers for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which conducts phone interviews with residents of metropolitan areas about health issues, including obesity, diabetes and exercise.

In this case, participants report their height and weight, which survey analysts use to calculate a BMI. Those with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 are considered at a healthy weight, those with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight, and those with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese. About 32% of the nation is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control; Memphis ranked above the national average at 34%.

Audio / Video: Madison School Board Vote on the MTI 2007 - 2009 Agreement

The Madison School Board voted 4-3 (for: Carstensen, Moss, Silveira and Winston; no: Cole, Kobza and Mathiak) Monday evening to approve the proposed MMSD / MTI 2007 - 2009 agreement. The new arrangement, which does not include substantial health care changes, was set in motion by the "Voluntary Impasse Resolution Document" - also approved by a 4-3 vote (Carol Carstensen's alt view). This document, approved before negotiations began, took health care changes off the table if the discussions resulted in arbitration.

• 30 Minute Video Clip
• 34MB MP3 audio recording of the entire board meeting (MTI Agreement vote discussion begins at about 6 minutes
• MTI's useful synopsis of the Agreement: 150K PDF, including the extension of the TERP (Teacher Retirement Extension Program) through 2011
• Going to the Mat for WPS by Jason Shephard
• Lawrie Kobza notes that changes in health care would have increased salaries by 2.8%, rather than the current 1%.
• KJ Jakobson's health care cost/benefit analysis
• A teacher noted the recent MTI vote.
• Susan Troller: Board approves teachers contract deal on 4-3 vote.
• TJ Mertz:

  Three Board of Education members voted against the MTI contract on Monday, June 18, 2007. My initial reaction was that it was a ‘free” vote, a vote without consequences. When elected officials know that there are sufficient votes to pass or defeat a measure they can use their votes to make a statement without taking responsibility for what would happen were they to prevail. This is what happened on Monday, those who voted against the contract knew that it would pass and that they would not be held responsible for the serious consequences that would ensue had they been in the majority. Upon reflection, I realized that in fact the vote has the consequences of exacerbating divisions among our teachers that are hard to justify based on their stated rationales for opposing the contract.

Statement on MMSD/MTI Tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement Vote

After much consideration, I have decided to vote against the tentative agreement negotiated by the District and the MTI teachers union. I will do so because the agreement fails to include significant health insurance changes, and as a result, unreasonably depresses the salary increases that can be provided to our teachers.

While the total salary and benefit increase to our teachers under the proposed agreement is 4.02%, our teachers will only receive a 1% increase in their salaries in each of the next two years. This is so even though we ask our teachers to do more and more each year given budget cuts and changes in our student demographics. The rest of the increase is eaten up by benefits, the vast majority of which is for health insurance.

I would like to see our teachers’ salaries increase by more than 1% per year. I believe a greater increase is well-deserved, and is needed to continue to keep and retain excellent teachers. I also believe a greater increase is needed so that the District’s starting salary for new teachers is competitive.

While money is obviously very tight, we could provide teachers with higher salaries if the District and the MTI teachers union - working together - would negotiate health insurance changes. The District’s initial proposal regarding health care insurance was to offer teachers the choice of three different HMO options or WPS. If a teacher chose one of the HMO options - Group Health Cooperative, Physicians Plus, or Dean Care- the District would pay the full cost of that HMO. If however a teacher chose coverage under WPS, which would still be available, the District would only pay the cost of the most expensive HMO, and the teacher would pay the rest of the cost of WPS. This proposal would have provided for a 2.81% salary increase for teachers for 2007-2008 - as opposed to a 1% increase.

The District and other employees groups have successfully worked together to revise health insurance coverages during this past year with the result that more money was available for employee wages to these groups. I was hopeful that similar results could be achieved for our teachers.

When I have raised this concern about how teacher salaries have been unreasonably depressed by the increasing cost of WPS, I have been told by some that it is none of the District’s business how MTI decides to split the negotiated salary and benefit package. I just cannot agree with this view.

While it is true that the total dollar impact to the District is the same regardless of how MTI splits the money between salary and benefits, I believe it is very important to the District how the money is spent. It is essential to the District that we have good, competitive teacher salaries and that our health insurance costs not drain money away from those salaries. It is essential that our teachers are paid fairly and equitably. It is not fair that a teacher who takes WPS insurance should receive $7,500 more in salary and benefits than a teacher who takes Group Health Cooperative. It is not fair that a majority of our teachers take Group Health Cooperative, yet they continue to have their compensation reduced to fund the benefits of others.

I am extremely disappointed that the District and MTI, working together, could not reach an agreement that puts more money into teachers salaries and less into health insurance costs. I truly believe that if the interests of the whole had been put first, this could have been done. Because we failed to take advantage of this opportunity, I feel I have no choice but to vote against the tentative agreement.

MMSD and MTI reach tentative contract agreement

Madison Metropolitan School District:

The Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison Teachers Incorporated reached a tentative agreement yesterday on the terms and conditions of a new two-year collective bargaining agreement for MTI's 2,400 member teacher bargaining unit.

The contract, for the period from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009, needs ratification from both the Board of Education and MTI. MTI will hold a ratification meeting on Thursday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Alliant Energy Center, Dane County Forum. The Board of Education will take up the proposal in a special meeting on Monday, June 18 at 5:00 p.m. The MTI meeting is closed to the public, while the Board's meeting is open.

Terms of the contract include:

2007-08
Base Salary Raise: 1.00%
Total Raise incl. Benefits: 4.00%

2008-09
Base Salary Raise: 1.00%
Total Raise incl. Benefits: 4.00%

Related Links:

• Concessions before negotiations.
• TJ Mertz comments on the agreement.
• Channel3000
• WKOWTV:

  Taxpayers will continue to pay 100% of the health care premiums for half of the teachers who choose Group Health, and 90% of the premiums for the other half of teachers who join WPS. WPS teachers pay $190 a month for a family and $72 a month for an individual.

  The union says those costs are too high.

  The district said it tried to introduce two new HMO plans to lower costs, but the union rejected them.

Key contract provisions include:

- Creation of a Joint Committee on Wellness and Preventive Health Care
which will study and make recommendations to the district and MTI in hopes
of providing the means to halt the rapid escalation of healthcare costs.

- Creation of a Joint Committee to study and make recommendations to MTI
and the district about the workload of elementary teachers.

- Initiate an emergency room co-pay of $75 and an office visit co-pay of
$10

- Two additional school year calendars. For 2008-09, classes begin
September 2 and end June 12, and for 2009-10 the start and end dates are
September 1 and June 11. Both will have a two-week winter break and a
six-day spring break. (In 2007-08, classes begin September 4 and end June
13.)

"I am very pleased that we are able to reach a negotiated settlement that I
believe is fair to our employees and to the Madison community, given the
financial limitations created by the state-imposed revenue cap," said
Superintendent Art Rainwater.

MTI Executive Director John Matthews said that he was glad that the
contract was reached in time for the union to hold its ratification meeting
prior to school being released for the summer, and that the parties were
able to successfully resolve several matters which were raised in
negotiations.

"But the economic provisions do not adequately reward those who have made
the Madison schools the best in the country. With the State usurping local
control as regards to school funding, this is a matter that the State must
fix; there is nothing local school boards can do. The State must realize
that their funding formula for education is inadequate, and that it is
causing the dissolution of the great education once made available to
Wisconsin children. That must be fixed and it is up to the Governor and
the Legislators to do it," Matthews said.

Contracts are still outstanding for MTI's clerical/technical, educational
assistant and school security bargaining units.

For more information, contact:
MMSD: Ken Syke, 663-1903, or Joe Quick, 663-1902, or
MTI: John Matthews, 257-0491

COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT:
Madison Metropolitan School District
Public Information Office
545 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53703
608-663-1879

TJ Mertz comments on the agreement. Concessions before negotiations.

3 Simple Things: Conduct Board Business Differently

1. Good Health Care at an Affordable Price: Reduce Costs by $12 Million
2. Put a Lid on the Cookie Jar: Cut Taxes Over $9 Million
3. Eliminate Chaos: Board Decisions; Priceless: Improve Student Achievement.

MADISON MARKET COMPARITIVE HEALTH CARE COSTS

The bargained contract between the Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison Teachers, Inc. (representing teachers) stipulates health coverage from a ‘preferred provider’ (WPS) and a ‘health maintenance organization’ (GHC).

Bids have not been solicited from health care providers in many years. Comparative monthly premium costs for the employer and the employee in the Madison market:

Plan	Single Coverage		Family Coverage
	Employer	Employee	Employer	Employee
MMSD (WPS)	$673.00	$75.00	$1,765.00	$196.00
MMSD (GHC)	$365.00	$00.00	$974.00	$00.00
City (Dean)	$406.00	$13.09	$1,010.00	$33.00
County (Phys Plus)	$385.00	$00.00	$905.00	$33.00
State (Dean)	$438.00	$22.00	$1.091.00	$55.00

VIDEO: watch the press conference here. Download the 823K PDF presentation materials.

Reports On School Crimes Are Rare

Daniel de Vise:

The recent announcement that Montgomery County school officials were starting work on an annual report of crimes committed by students and other disciplinary incidents underscored a surprising fact: In this era of heightened concern about school safety, few Washington area school systems regularly report such offenses to the public.

The annual School Safety Report, slated for publication in Montgomery starting in the 2008-09 academic year, will place the county almost alone among Maryland and Northern Virginia school systems in reporting detailed school crime statistics to the public, according to education leaders and lawmakers. In much of this region, as in much of the nation, comprehensive reports on weapons, drugs and sex in individual public schools simply don't exist.

Among the area's largest school systems, only Fairfax County reports school crime data online, as part of its searchable database of school report cards. One other county, Anne Arundel, publishes a hard-copy student discipline report with annual crime data for individual schools. School systems in Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Loudoun and Prince William counties publish no such document.

"It's all theoretically available to the public but rather difficult to obtain," said Montgomery County Council member Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville), who has pushed for annual school crime reporting.

MMSD / MTI Contract Negotiations Begin: Health Care Changes Proposed

Susan Troller:

The district and Madison Teachers Inc. exchanged initial proposals Wednesday to begin negotiations on a new two-year contract that will run through June 30, 2009. The current one expires June 30.

"Frankly, I was shocked and appalled by the school district's initial proposal because it was replete with take-backs in teachers' rights as well as the economic offer," John Matthews, executive director of MTI, said in an interview Thursday.

But Bob Butler, a staff attorney with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards who is part of the district's bargaining team, said he believed the district's proposal was fair and flexible.

He said the administration's proposal on health care provides two new HMO plans that could bring savings to the district and new options to employees, while still providing an option for the more expensive Wisconsin Physicians Service plan for employees who want it.

The district is proposing that teachers accept language that would allow two new HMO insurance plans, provided by Dean Care and Physicians Plus, to be added to the two plans currently offered.

Slightly more than 53 percent of the employees represented by the teachers' bargaining unit use the less expensive Group Health Cooperative plan, which is a health maintenance organization, or HMO. The district's costs for the GHC plan for next year are $364.82 per month for singles and $974.08 for families. Employees who opt for the GHC do not pay a percentage of the premium themselves but are responsible for co-pays for drugs that range from $6 to $30.

If about the same number of district employees -- 1,224 -- use the GHC plan next year, it would cost the district about $11.6 million.

The other option currently available to teachers is provided by Wisconsin Physicians Service. A preferred provider organization plan, it provides health insurance to just under 47 percent of the district's teacher unit.

A more flexible plan that allows participants to go to different doctors for different medical specialties, the WPS plan next year will cost the district $747.78 per month for singles and $1,961.13 for families. Under the current contract, employees pay 10 percent of the cost of the WPS plan, which this year is $65.65 per month for singles, and $172.18 per month for families.

The cost estimate for the school district's share of the WPS plan under the current contract would be about $19 million. Employees, who pick up 10 percent of the cost as their share of the premium, would pay another $2 million under the current structure.

It's important to remember that a majority of the Madison School Board voted several months ago to not arbitrate with MTI over health care costs. Andy Hall has more:

But with the Madison School Board facing a $10.5 million budget shortfall, is the board giving away too much with its promises to retain teachers' increasingly pricey health insurance and to discard its legal mechanism for limiting teachers' total compensation increase to 3.8 percent?

Yes, School Board Vice President Lawrie Kobza said Saturday, "I feel very strongly that this was a mistake," said Kobza, who acknowledged that most board members endorse the agreement with Madison Teachers Inc., the teachers union.

State law allows districts to avoid arbitration by making a so-called qualified economic offer, or QEO, by boosting salaries and benefits a combined 3.8 percenter a year.

"To agree before a negotiation starts that we're not going to impose the QEO and negotiate health care weakens the district's position," Kobza said. She contended the district's rising health-care costs are harming its ability to raise starting teachers' salaries enough to remain competitive.

The "voluntary impasse resolution" agreements, which are public records, are used in only a handful of Wisconsin's 425 school districts, according to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

Carol Carstensen posted an alt view on Concessions before negotiations. Related: What a sham(e), Sun Prairie Cuts Health Care Costs & Raises Teacher Salaries - using the same Dean Healthcare Plan and "Going to the Mat for WPS". TJ Mertz says Susan neglected to mention the QEO (note that the a majority of the MMSD school board agreed not to arbitrate over the QEO or health care casts in "Concessions before negotiations".

"Bitter Medicine for Madison Schools":
07/08 budget grows 3.6% from 333M (06/07) to $345M with Reductions in the Increase

Doug Erickson on the 2007/2008 $345M budget (up from $333M in 2006/2007) for 24,342 students):

As feared by some parents, the recommendations also included a plan to consolidate schools on the city's East Side. Marquette Elementary students would move to Lapham Elementary and Sherman Middle School students would be split between O'Keeffe and Black Hawk middle schools.

No school buildings would actually close - O'Keeffe would expand into the space it currently shares with Marquette, and the district's alternative programs would move to Sherman Middle School from leased space.

District officials sought to convince people Friday that the consolidation plan would have some educational benefits, but those officials saw no silver lining in having to increase class sizes at several elementary schools.

Friday's announcement has become part of an annual ritual in which Madison - and most other state districts - must reduce programs and services because overhead is rising faster than state-allowed revenue increases. A state law caps property-tax income for districts based on enrollment and other factors.

The Madison School District will have more money to spend next year - about $345 million, up from $332 million - but not enough to keep doing everything it does this year.

School Board members ultimately will decide which cuts to make by late May or June, but typically they stick closely to the administration's recommendations. Last year, out of $6.8 million in reductions, board members altered less than $500,000 of Rainwater's proposal.

Board President Johnny Winston Jr. called the cuts "draconian" but said the district has little choice. Asked if the School Board will consider a referendum to head off the cuts, he said members "will discuss everything."

But board Vice President Lawrie Kobza said she thinks it's too early to ask the community for more money. Voters approved a $23 million referendum last November that included money for a new elementary school on the city's Far West Side.

"I don't see a referendum passing," she said.

Links: Wisconsin K-12 spending. The 10.5M reductions in the increase plus the planned budget growth of $12M yields a "desired" increase of 7.5%. In other words, current Administration spending growth requires a 7.5% increase in tax receipts from property, sales, income, fees and other taxes (maybe less - see Susan Troller's article below). The proposed 07/08 budget grows 3.6% from 333M+ (06/07) to $345M (07/08). Madison's per student spending has grown an average of 5.25% since 1987 - details here.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

The spectre of central city school closings was what prompted some of us to resist the far-west side school referendum. Given the looming energy crisis, we should be encouraging folks to live in town, not at the fringes, strengthen our city neighborhoods. Plus, along with the need to overhaul the way we fund schools, we need a law requiring developers to provide a school or at least the land as a condition to development.

UPDATE 2: Susan Troller pegs the reduction in the increase at $7.2M:

Proposed reductions totaled almost $7.2 million and include increases in elementary school class sizes, changes in special education allocations and school consolidations on the near east side.

Other recommendations include increased hockey fees, the elimination of the elementary strings program and increased student-to-staff ratios at the high school and middle school levels.

UPDATE 3: Roger Price kindly emailed the total planned 07/08 budget: $339,139,282

Wisconsin Governor Doyle Again Focuses on Teacher Pay

Steven Walters:

In what could be the biggest fight yet over repealing the controversial law limiting the pay raises of Wisconsin's teachers, Gov. Jim Doyle and Democrats who run the state Senate once again are taking aim at it.

The so-called qualified economic offer law was passed in 1993 to control property taxes on homes.

It says that teachers unions and school boards at a collective bargaining impasse cannot request binding arbitration, if the unions have been offered wage and fringe benefit raises that total 3.8% a year. If increased fringe benefits costs eat up the 3.8%, school boards don't have to offer teachers any pay raise.

Stoking the Capitol fire is the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, which says the entire school-aid formula is so broken it must be reinvented this year - a change the union says should include abolishing the qualified economic offer law.

Backing up Republicans such as Rhoades is Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group and one of the most powerful Capitol lobbying groups.

"Any effort to repeal QEO is a non-starter with the business community because it's going to lead to pressure to raise property taxes," said Jim Pugh, the business group's spokesman. "Wisconsin has the seventh-highest taxes in the nation."

But the largest teachers union, an equally powerful Capitol force, says the school-aid formula is so broken a new one must be passed this year - a huge task that legislators might not have the time, will or cash to approve.

Wisconsin Education Association Council President Stan Johnson said the formula fails the poorest one-third of all public school students - the ones who need the most help.

Since 1993, Johnson says, the pay-raise limit has caused average salaries for Wisconsin's teachers to fall to 24th nationally overall and to 30th nationally for starting teachers.

The law has meant that property taxes have been controlled "on our backs" for the past 13 years, Johnson said.

It "has been their property tax relief program," Johnson said of Capitol officials.

Although the council spent $1.9 million to help re-elect Doyle, Johnson said he did not know whether the Democratic governor will include a complete new school-aid formula in his state budget proposal.

Related Links:

• Wisconsin's $2.15 Billion State Deficit.
• Wisconsin Resident's Total 2006 Tax Rate = 33.4%
• The Madison School District's recommended State School Finance changes to support spending (and property tax) increases without a local referendum.
• Notes and links on the QEO (Qualified Economic Offer)
• Education Sector Study: "Cutting Provisions in Union Contracts Could Free Funds"

Board of Education meeting of 30-Oct-2006

The October 30, 2006 Board of Education met to discuss a series of resolutions, and approve the final 2006-07 MMSD Budget, and approve the AFSCME Local 60 contract.


The video of the meeting is 210MB, and 2 hours and 30 minutes long. Click on the image at left to watch the video. The video contains chapter headings which allow quick navigation to sections of the meeting. The video will play immediately, while the file continues to download.

Public Appearances
There was a public appearance by Barbara Lewis who expressed concern over the apparent change in policy of MMSD in granting high school credit for courses taken at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Both Superintendent Art Rainwater and Director of Alternative Programs Steve Hartley discussed the issues with the Board and clarified that the policy statement which Ms. Lewis had received, and which apparently was being misinterpreted by some high school staff referred only to Independent Study. The Board, noting confusion of parents, school staff and themselves, requested that these issues be placed on the Board agenda as soon as possible.

Agenda Item #4
Resolution supporting expenditures for school security be placed outside the revenue caps.

Agenda Item #5
Resolution supporting language by the Superintendent and other superintendents that the State adopt the Adequacy Model for school funding.

Agenda Item #6 - Discussion and Approval of 2006-2007 Budget
This portion of the meeting begins at approximately 20 minutes into the meeting and continues until the Board votes to approve the tax levy amount at 2 hours into the meeting. Final approval of the full budget is rescheduled for a later meeting. The discussions included issues of fund equity, the fund reserve, the unexpected decrease of State support, liquidation of earnings on Chavez building funds, changes in the budget necessary to offset decrease in State support, and the minimum decisions the Board needed to make to meet budget deadline.

Agenda Item #7
Approval of the AFSCME Local 60 contract, in which the District and Union agree to a health care package containing only HMOs, saving the District significant healthcare costs, in exchange for a generous wage increase.

Madison School District Healthcare Cost Savings

The Madison School District Board of Education approved a collective bargaining contract with the custodial units last night in which the custodians agreed to move from their current health care plans (GHC and the Alliance PPO) to a 3 HMO plan which is GHC, Dean Care and Physicans Plus. MMSD continues to pay 100% of the premium, but there are cost savings associated with this change. 85% of those costs savings was passed on to employees in salary and 15% went to MMSD.

This change is effective 1/1/2007. A big benefit of this change is that Administrators will also move to the 3 HMO option.

I've not seen an MMSD press on this important issue, but this is what I understand is happening.

Health care expense links.

This is a very positive development, particularly given the inaction on this topic in the recent past and one I believe helps support the 11/7/2006 referendum.

MMSD Press Release.

How Can This Continue: Negotating Health Insurance Changes

Robert Butler[PDF]:

Health insurance has become the most prevalent issue discussed at the bargaining table today. Recent premium increases for school districts with July renewal
dates have focused even more attention on this issue.

Many administrators and board members ask: How can this continue? How do we communicate to our employees, our taxpayers and other interested constituents the effect that our health insurance costs have on our budgets? How do we maintain and, hopefully, expand our educational offerings when our costs for health insurance continue to eat up an ever larger portion of our budget?

There are many factors that have contributed to the high cost of health insurance: utilization of services, demographic trends (such as life expectancy and obesity), healthcare provider consolidation, duplication of services, new products and services, the growing number of uninsured, marketing of prescription drugs, medical malpractice expenses, level of benefits and plan design, among others.

This article will provide insight on how to address items that we can control at the bargaining table: the level of benefits, plan design and consumer behavior. Remember, health insurance is an economic and emotional issue; people don't always make rational decisions when negotiating over this topic.

Butler is Co-Director of Employee Relations Services, Staff Counsel; Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

Negotiating health care costs with employees is the first item on the Board's Human Resources Committee agenda: Monday, September 25, 2006 @ 6:00p.m. in the McDaniels Auditorium [map].

State ranks 13th in national health study

By Anita Weier, The Capital Times, JAnuary 31, 2006

Wisconsin ranked 13th among the states in a national health study, down from ninth in 2004, as obesity and child poverty rose.

The study, titled America's Health Rankings 2005, analyzed personal behaviors, community environment, health policies and health outcomes.

The healthiest states were Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire, Utah and Hawaii, in that order. The least-healthy was Mississippi, followed in order by Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and South Carolina.

Wisconsin's strengths included a high rate of high school graduation, a low rate of violent crime, a low incidence of infectious diseases and a low rate of uninsured people.

Challenges included low per capita public health spending at $79 per person, which put the state in 46th place, and a high rate of smoking at 21.9 percent of the population, which put it in 31st place.

Herb Bostrom, deputy administrator of the state's Division of Public Health, agreed that smoking and some other behavioral issues are a problem. But the public health funding issue is another matter, he said.

The study tends to look only at state funding for public health, not at grants and fees, according to Bostrom. "Wisconsin has been very successful in acquiring federal grants and grants from non-federal sources," he said.

Another factor is that some states provide direct health services while Wisconsin funds other providers that do so. "Different states do things differently," he said.

The study was conducted by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention, and was published in State Policy Reports as well as other publications and Web sites.

Another major health problem cited by the study was the fact that the percentage of children in poverty increased by 17 percent - from 15.4 percent to 18 percent of those under 18, from 2004 to 2005.

That figure would have been worse, the study said, if the rate of births per 1,000 teenage females had not decreased by 26.1 percent - from 43.7 births per thousand in 1991 to 32.3 births per thousand in 2002.

Since 1990, the prevalence of obesity soared by 105 percent - from 11.3 percent to 23.2 percent of the population.

Additionally, Wisconsin ranked 23rd for cardiovascular deaths and 23rd for total mortality.

Racial disparities also existed.

For instance, the infant mortality rate was substantially worse for minorities. Non-Hispanic whites had a rate of 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, while non-Hispanic blacks had a rate of 17.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Whites were screened for cholesterol levels at a much higher rate than Hispanics.

Bostrom added that blacks and American Indians have high rates of diabetes.

"Disparity is a big problem. The Division of Public Health is focusing on the disparity in health outcomes and working with minority populations in the Milwaukee area, Rock County and Dane County," he said.

But he pointed out that such differences are often due more to income than any sort of genetic tendency. "In many cases, there are socio-economic and education differences. These are societal issues," he said.

"If we could raise our health status for minorities to the level of the majority, that could make a substantial improvement."

We Can Make Health Care Affordable

Wisconsin families and businesses are being priced out of health care coverage. It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn things around.

Every day brings new evidence that we are in the middle of a health care crisis.

The Wisconsin Realtors Association released a poll earlier this month that showed 66 percent of Wisconsin residents are worried that health care costs will soon become unaffordable.

By Wisconsin State Senator Judy Robson (D-Beloit), a registered nurse, from WisOpinion.com, November 21, 2005.

The Economic Policy Institute reported that between 1999 and 2004, 355,000 Wisconsin residents lost employer-provided health coverage.

The Wisconsin Association of Health Plans recently reported that more people in Wisconsin now rely on taxpayer-funded health plans than on commercial insurance.

Perhaps the biggest wake-up call was the report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that showed eight of the nation's 10 most expensive cities in terms of physician costs are right here in Wisconsin.

It doesn't have to be this way. Many bright minds have put forth proposals to significantly bring down the costs of health care and insure more people. We aren't saying we need to spend more money on health care. We're saying we need to spend smarter.

One in every three dollars spent on health care in the United States is spent on administrative overhead. Not doctors, not nurses, not medicine. Anyone who had done battle with the health care bureaucracy knows how much time office workers spend figuring out the proper insurer to bill, the co-payment, the deductible, referral procedures, and whether the procedure should even be covered.

As a nurse, I have seen how much money and resources are expended on paper shuffling and marketing rather than direct patient care. I saw that the business model for health care was not working. Managed care was not bringing down health care costs. In fact, the expansion of managed care and market-based competition has coincided with the upswing in administrative costs over the last 30 years.

Jobs With Justice, a coalition of labor and faith-based organizations, calculated that we waste $94 billion nationwide due to our patchwork system of private insurers. That would be sufficient to insure 55 million people who are currently uninsured. If we also stopped drug manufacturers from overcharging for prescription drugs, we would have more than enough money to insure everyone in this country.

Of course, the pharmaceutical industry and other powerful special interests oppose any reform measures that would cut into their profits. That's why we can't wait for Congress to act. As we did with welfare reform and SeniorCare, Wisconsin can show the rest of the nation the way.

A group of state legislators has made a commitment to making health care affordable here in Wisconsin. Thirty-seven Democrats and one Republican have introduced the Action Plan for Affordable Health Care. The Action Plan requires both parties to come together to develop a plan that brings down health care costs by 15 percent within two years of enactment. The plan must also ensure that 98 percent of Wisconsin residents have health coverage. A working group could use the groundwork laid in existing proposals or develop entirely new approaches.

Any legislator who has spent any time talking to constituents knows that the cost of health care is at or near the top of their concerns. It's time for all of us to come together to develop a solution. The Republicans in control of the Legislature must change their can't-do attitude to a can-do attitude. We must stand up to special interests who oppose reform.

The Action Plan for Affordable Health Care sets the goals and the timeframe. It will be up to legislators of both parties to work out the details. The first step is for the Legislature to make affordable health care a priority.

Candy, Soda, Pizza, Other Junk Food Compete with Nutritious Meals in Most Schools

Libby Quaid:

Candy, soda, pizza and other snacks compete with nutritious meals in nine out of 10 schools, a government survey found.

Already plentiful in high schools, junk food has become more available in middle schools over the past five years, according to the Government Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

"Parents should know that our schools are now one of the largest sources of unhealthy food for their kids," Sen. Tom Harkin, who asked for the study, said in an interview.

Milwaukee Schools Health Care Coverage Changes

Alan J. Borsuk and Sarah Carr:

Milwaukee Public Schools teachers will begin shouldering a larger share of the costs of their health care under an arbitrator's ruling issued Tuesday.

The decision ended 2 1/2 years of work on a two-year contract for more than 6,000 teachers with a victory for the School Board and the administration of Superintendent William Andrekopoulos.

After management and the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association deadlocked - almost entirely over health insurance issues - the dispute went to the arbitrator, Marquette University Law School Professor Jay Grenig, who was required to pick between the final offers of each side without making any changes.

Under the MPS plan, teachers would begin paying portions of the cost of their health care, including deductibles and co-pays on many services. Administrators say the district pays more than 60 cents in fringe benefits for every dollar it pays in salaries.

Healthy Kids = Successful Kids; BadgerCare Can Help!

Getting school supplies, adjusting to a new morning routine, doing homework again, meeting new friends, and joining sports teams and after school clubs: it all adds up to make heading back to school a busy time for children and families. But Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Madison School Board member Johnny Winston, Jr., and a working family who gets its health care through BadgerCare are urging parents to set aside a few minutes to explore their options for free or low-cost quality healthcare.

“Health insurance can give students the healthy start they need to begin the school year right, so looking into BadgerCare really needs to be on your family’s back-to-school list this summer,” said Madison School Board member Johnny Winston, Jr. “Families in Wisconsin who are uninsured, underinsured or spending huge amounts of their income on health insurance should explore BadgerCare as an option.”

BadgerCare is a comprehensive health care program for families that covers eyeglasses, immunizations, sports physicals, speech therapy, doctor and hospital visits, prescriptions and more. BadgerCare is available at little or no cost to families earning up to 185% of the federal poverty line. A family of three, for example, earning nearly $30,000 can qualify; the income limit is nearly $36,000 for a family of four.

Finding out BadgerCare was available to families, even if the adults are working, made a big difference for Erin Quinn and her seven-year-old daughter, Alexus. Erin works full time, but cannot afford the $200 premiums that come with the health insurance offered through her employer. Five years ago, the county worker who assists Erin with Alexus’ mental health care needs mentioned BadgerCare. Erin enrolled herself and her daughter and say “the routine checks, prescriptions and other health care BadgerCare covers for our family’s needs are heaven-sent. I feel real lucky that BadgerCare is there for families who cannot afford health care,” said Quinn.

Erin works in sales and marketing at Widen Enterprises in Monona, earning $12.35 an hour. BadgerCare, through Unity HMO, covers not only routine check-ups for her and Alexus, but also the very important in-home mental health therapy their family needs. Erin is concerned about the challenges of getting into dental clinics and that getting some mental health care services can be challenging. “But, overall, the coverage is really making a difference for us.”

- more -

Research released earlier this month by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that kids who lack health insurance are less likely to get any medical care at all, much less the medical care they need, and are less likely to have a personal doctor than kids who have health insurance.

In Wisconsin in 2003:
·25.6% of children without health insurance received no medical care, compared to 15% of children with health insurance.
·Children without health insurance were three times more likely (1.7% vs. .5%) to have not received all the medical care they needed compared to those with health insurance.
·39.5% of children without health insurance did not have a personal doctor or nurse, compared to 11.8% of children with health insurance.

“Bottom line: health insurance makes a big difference when it comes to keeping kids healthy,” said Michael Jacob, project coordinator for Covering Kids and Families – Wisconsin, a coalition based at the University of Wisconsin that seeks to get kids and families enrolled in the health insurance programs for which they are eligible. Jacob stressed the importance of exploring BadgerCare as an option. “A phone call can make a world of difference for you and your family.”

An estimated 85,000 children in Wisconsin were without health insurance in 2003, with half of them likely eligible for BadgerCare.

BadgerCare and other Family Medicaid health plans for children and their families now provide free or low-cost health insurance for more than 517,000 residents statewide, nearly 90,000 through BadgerCare. As of June 2005, 26,887 Dane County residents were enrolled in BadgerCare and Family Medicaid programs. Yet, thousands more families who may be eligible for these free benefits are not enrolled.

Students who receive free or reduced-price meals – about 30 percent of the state’s school children – are income-eligible for the BadgerCare family health plan if they lack health coverage. In Dane County, 21 percent of schoolchildren were enrolled in the free/reduced price lunch program last year.

“While we've long recognized that school achievement is linked to meeting kids’ nutritional needs, we must also meet their medical needs,” said Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. “Many students are likely to underachieve if they cannot see the blackboard or hear their teacher because they lack medical coverage for eyeglasses or hearing aids. BadgerCare is essential for keeping at-risk children healthy and in school and their parents at work. It’s a federal-state partnership that I strongly support,” said Baldwin.

“Something as simple as new eyeglasses could really turn around a struggling child’s performance in school,” notes Winston. “These kids are our future workers, homeowners, neighbors and leaders. By helping to build stronger community members, we help build a stronger community.”

The Covering Kids and Families Back to School Campaign is a national effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More information about the Wisconsin effort can be found at www.ckfwi.org.

How to Apply for BadgerCare:
To apply, call or visit your county human services department.
In Dane County, call 242-7441.
Satellite sites are also available in:
·Stoughton (873-5636)
·Sun Prairie (837-7380)
Information is also available at the State Department of Health and Family Services web site at http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/em/imagencies/index.htm

Health Talks Won't Be Secret

Jason Shepherd wrote about the nature of the Madison School District's joint committee with MTI (Madison Teachers Inc.)regarding health care costs. Initially, according to Shepherd, Madison School Board President Carol Carstensen said that "the open meeting law does not apply to the committee".

KJ Jakobsen, a parent studying the District's health insurance costs, wants to attend the meetings to see if the district is conducting an appropriate review. "Questions have been raised for 20 years," she says. "Change won't happen if these meetings are secret".

But Carstensen, in an e-mail to Jakobsen, barred her from the meetings, claiming the committee is "part of the bargaining process" and thus excluded from the open meetings law. That raised the ire of [Ruth] Robarts, who said, "The public has a right to know what the distrct has been doing about its health insurance costs".

Read the article here. Isthmus' web site

A 27 News Special Report: Worker's Comp at Schools

Wed 05/11/2005 -

27 News has uncovered an extraordinary amount of days missed by employees of the Madison School District because of worker's comp claims. These claims are far in excess of those filed by other similar sized Wisconsin school districts. And worker's comp claims in Madison are, in some cases, 14 times those of other districts. When added together, last year alone, Madison School District employees lost more than three and and a half years of work, because of on the job injuries.

When you think of school, you think of teachers, administrative staff, custodians, coaches -- you don't think of worker's comp. Here in Madison, you might want to start. 27 News has learned worker's comp claims by Madison School employees are costing taxpayers millions -- more than $3.3 million over the past the three years; last year - $1.25 million.

"The Madison school district's approach has been to reduce the losses, manage the claims, and then to also get people back to work as quickly as we possibly can," said Roger Price, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services at the Madison School District.

Last year, the Madison School District reported 144 injuries resulting in 1280 days missed. According to OSHA reports, A custodian at East High School lost 109 days because of a strained knee. And a teacher at Sennett Middle School broke an ankle. Instead of returning to work on light duty, that teacher missed 147 days.

Karen Townsend, worker's comp administrator for the Green Bay school district said she was very surprised at Madison's numbers. "We can accommodate anything," Townsend told 27 News. "I've rented wheelchairs for people who have broken their ankle, for example. We get people back to the job." Townsend says there's no reason why Madison can't bring the number of lost days down. Especially when virtually every district in the state is trying to find ways to trim costs.

Madison's Price said the district does a lot to bring employees back to the job. "We've been able to get employees back to work, which reduces the days out."

But the numbers don't bear that out: in our research, we found only one district comparable to Madison. The Racine school district reported 193 injuries last year, and lost just over 1,000 days.

But take a look at other similar sized districts: Green Bay is slightly smaller than Madison, but still fair to compare. Last year, Green Bay reported 219 injuries. But their days lost: 92; about 1,100 less than Madison.

Kenosha reported 428 injuries -- but only 520 days lost; less than half of what Madison School District employee's lost.

Even when presented with these numbers, Madison's Price maintained the Madison School District was in good shape. "When I look at the comparisons, I feel that our numbers look great, compared to some of the other districts that you had brought forward."

But Green Bay's Townsend says Madison can do better. In her 11 years at Green Bay, an aggressive approach in her district has brought injury claims and days lost down. What I just really instill is that these are really valuable people," Townsend said. "Even if they're just stilling in a chair with a presence -- in a classroom or you know, in the custodial area.

In Madison, it's the custodians who file the most claims. Madison custodians accounted for 56% of days lost last year -- they lost 716 days because of injuries. Price says those injuries were severe -- and like every claim, they're looked at on an individual basis. Isn't there more Madison could do to bring down those claims, like Green bay did? "There's always more we can do, and it takes an effort and staff to do that," Price said. "One of our budget cuts is our risk management position this year. Those duties will be consolidated with other individuals." And price says without that front line position, bringing the number of claims and lost days down will be even more difficult. "Budget cuts can actually impact your ability to be more affective."

But let's look for a second at the private sector: assembly lines, paper mills. Companies can go weeks and months without a single day missed because of an on the job injury. Madison's Price wouldn't comment. "You're in areas that I'm not familiar with their environment," Price said. "I'm not going to speculate on what happens in a different environment. I know what we do and what we're trying to accomplish is provide a safe workplace for employees."

Every year, the Madison School District is assigned a rating by the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau. The rating determines how much the district pays for it's worker's comp insurance premiums; the lower the rating, the bigger the discount. Over the past three years, the Madison School District has seen improvements in it's rating: with a 1.26 rating in 2003 to a projected .99 rating this year. The district says that will save them $300,000 in their premium. 27 News found out, though, the rating system, doesn't extensively look at time lost -- it focuses on the number of injuries. And when you look at time lost in a school district, the costs multiply -- because not only are you paying for that employee, but you're also paying a substitute while that hurt employee is out.

Madison is the second largest school district in the state -- the school districts we compared to Madison were the three closest in size. Kenosha has virtually the same number of employees as Madison does. Green Bay is about 18% smaller.