About the Yankee Institute for Public Policy
The Yankee Institute for Public Policy, Inc. is a nonpartisan educational and research organization
founded more than two decades ago. Today, the Yankee Institute’s mission is to “promote
economic opportunity through lower taxes and new ideas for better government in Connecticut.”
Question 10: Benefits
Do part-time employees pay a proportional share of their insurance benefits? If
not, why not? Are retirees who are being paid their medical insurance by the
school district entitled to the payments? Are there retirees listed who are
deceased but still having their benefits paid? Is the list reviewed yearly to keep
it updated?
Background: School districts have a list of retirees whose benefits are
paid either by the school district or the employee. Such lists have been shown
to include retirees who are not entitled to the benefits, as well as retirees whose
benefit are being paid even though they are deceased.
Proposed Solution: An issue is whether a part-time employee should
receive the same paid benefits as a full time employee. A part-time employee
should be required to pay for a proportional share of their benefits. For
example, a half-time employee should pay 50 percent of the benefit cost.
The retiree list must be reviewed each year to determine whether the
payments are legitimate and whether the retiree is still living.
Conclusion
School boards and administrators usually claim that 75 to 80 percent of
their budget represents “fixed costs.” Taxpayers should never accept such a
statement, because this is the biggest deceit of all. Such a statement assumes
that every school employee is essential, that no consolidations can take place,
all programs and services are efficient and effective, all resources are managed
with quality guidelines, and every operation is managed with utmost efficiency.
Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to any organization
supported by taxpayer dollars -- and this is especially true of schools.
Therefore, these ten critical questions need be to given honest and
meaningful answers, and then followed by appropriate action.
School boards cannot do the job alone. If they were doing their jobs,
School Corruption: Betrayal of Children and the Public Trust could not have been written, and the evidence of rather shameful statistics of student results such as dropout rates, poor testing results, achievement gaps between white and
minority students, and over 25,000 schools identified as failing would not exist.
No amount of money will solve these and other school problems. It
requires effective monitoring of school assets, human and financial resources,
and programs and services. Unfortunately, such monitoring can only be
effective if there is enough outside taxpayer knowledge and pressure to demand
answers and action.
What taxpayers need to understand is that local boards have the power
and obligation to adopt policies and practices to manage the school resources
so that they are used wisely, honestly, and effectively, as well as protected from
corrupt acts. No other approvals are needed for action on their part, but it
does require education, training and courage.
