Insurance
Teaching Profession
Liability-Insurance Bill Irks Georgia Teachers’ Union
The Georgia Association of Educators is not impressed with a state legislative proposal to provide liability insurance to teachers—a plan that some say would take away one of the most attractive benefits of union membership.
Budget & Finance
Calif. School Workers Compete to Lose Weight
In what sounds like a script for the latest reality-TV show, 200 teachers, administrators, and other school employees working in San Diego County, Calif., have accepted a challenge to achieve personal weight-loss goals over the next year.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Concern Escalates Over Wisconsin’s Rising Health Costs
Wisconsin teachers have a choice, according to Republicans in the state legislature: Scale back your health benefits in exchange for salary increases, or give up any hope of raises.
Budget & Finance
Insurance Debate
Three weeks ago, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen appeared ready to pull the plug on the state’s troubled TennCare health-insurance program and put the savings into prekindergarten programs.
Budget & Finance
N.Y. Insurance Suit Catches Attention Of School Districts
A legal assault on the world’s largest insurance broker by the New York state attorney general has stirred concerns that school districts may be among the victims of alleged fraudulent practices by the company.
Education Funding
Health Costs Strain School Budgets
The rising cost of health insurance is leaving less money for school facilities maintenance, teaching positions, technology upgrades, and districts' ability to comply with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Teaching Profession
Health Costs Obstructing Contract Settlements
A not-at-all-funny thing has happened to teachers and school districts on their way to the bargaining table: soaring health-insurance costs.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Congress Defers States' Bid To Retain Child-Health Dollars
State governors saw their best hope for an immediate bailout of the federal health-insurance program for children dashed this month, when a lame-duck Congress failed to take up the issue before closing shop for the year.
Education Funding
Liability Insurance's Skyrocketing Costs Confound Districts
District officials embarking on shopping trips to their insurance agencies this winter had better take along smelling salts: Over the past year, the cost of liability insurance has skyrocketed, many of the longtime vendors have quit the market, and those that do remain are requiring policyholders to shoulder more risk.
Education Funding
Districts Hard Hit By Escalating Costs Of Health Coverage
Finding affordable health insurance for the 475 employees of the Dripping Springs school district in Texas has been a fruitless task for Superintendent Mary Ward.
Budget & Finance
Ark. Boards' Group Wins Restitution In Kickback Case
An Arkansas jury has ordered an influential former state senator to pay about $1.2 million to the Arkansas School Boards Association for his role in a scheme to defraud the group's workers' compensation insurance trust.
Federal
News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup
- Texas Agrees To Help Districts With Teachers' Health Plans
- Ariz. Test Is Focus of OCR Complaint
- 'Cyber' Charter Dispute Flares in Pa.
Equity & Diversity
Court: District May Provide Benefits To Same-Sex Couples
A federal appeals court has upheld the Chicago school system's provision of health-insurance benefits for the same-sex domestic partners of its employees.
Federal
Texas Gets Closer To Health Plan for Teachers
Texas lawmakers have taken long strides toward a deal to help provide health insurance for school employees, though the final arrangement will almost certainly fall short of what teachers originally said they wanted.