Federal

Texas Gets Closer To Health Plan for Teachers

By Bess Keller — May 09, 2001 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

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.

Early last week, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a measure designed both to ease the woes of school districts trying to find affordable coverage for their employees and give additional insurance help to teachers.

Two days later, the Senate education committee passed a significantly different bill that has now gone to the full chamber.

Both the House and the Senate legislation would establish the state’s first health-insurance program for school system employees, thereby adding Texas to the long list of states that help with teacher medical costs.

Neither measure would provide coverage comparable to that received by employees of the state government under their plan, which includes help with dependents’ medical costs. Such features have been sought by the state’s four teacher groups, which made health insurance their top legislative priority this year.

Still, Rep. Ignacio Salinas called the House bill a good start, especially in today’s tighter fiscal climate. “What’s important here is we finally have a mechanism to provide health care for all education employees in the state, and money to the school districts to provide this very valuable benefit,” said Mr. Salinas, a Democrat who is also the president of the 60,000-member Texas State Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association.

Contrasting Measures

Under the House bill, the health- insurance program would cover smaller school districts starting in 2002 and then be made available to larger districts starting in 2005, with the state picking up a large share of the cost. In addition, all 590,000 school employees statewide would initially receive an additional $1,000 toward health-care costs— or to use in any manner the employee chooses. The price tag for the entire program would be $1.3 billion annually.

The Senate bill, in contrast, would offer a health-insurance plan to all districts by the 2002 starting date, but no money to individual employees. It would cost the state about $1 billion a year, and because of its funding mechanism would require voter approval for a change in the Texas Constitution.

Legislative leaders, including the heads of both education committees, also called a health-insurance plan an important step for Texas schools, which are facing worsening teacher shortages. District and teacher leaders complained that much of the $3,000 raise in teacher salaries granted by lawmakers in the last session has, in many districts, been eaten up by rising health-care costs.

Democratic Rep. Paul Sadler, the chairman of the House education committee, won a standing ovation from his colleagues for devising the plan, which was mulled by a special committee assembled by Speaker of the House James E. “Pete” Laney.

“We’ve been working on these issues for 20 years,” said Jeri Stone, the executive director of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, an independent teacher group with 43,000 members. “The fact that they have a bill out that does something for everybody is, in and of itself, really good progress.”

Teachers’ groups generally favor the House plan over the one now in the Senate. That’s because, under the House version, whether or not state money ended up improving the coverage offered to school employees in a particular district, teachers would receive money directly that they could use to buy extra coverage, if they wished.

Either plan would likely ease the plight of the hundreds of small Texas districts that either have been unable to get health insurance for their employees or have had little choice of carriers.

The House and the Senate have until the session ends on May 28 to work out their differences.

A version of this article appeared in the May 09, 2001 edition of Education Week as Texas Gets Closer To Health Plan for Teachers

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump Admin. Starts Moving CTE to Labor Dept. After Supreme Court Order
The Education Department put arrangements to move some of its programs on hold while court battles over downsizing played out.
4 min read
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022. The Trump administration is shifting management of career and technical education programs to the U.S. Department of Labor now that the Supreme Court have given the go-ahead to proceed with downsizing of the U.S. Department of Education.
Nate Smallwood for Education Week
Federal Hope Shattered for Laid-Off Ed. Dept. Staff After Supreme Court Order
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to proceed with 1,400 Education Department layoffs.
6 min read
Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025.
Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025. The Supreme Court on July 14, 2025, allowed the Trump administration to proceed with department layoffs that a lower-court judge had put on hold.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Says Undocumented Students Can't Attend Head Start, Early College
The administration issued notices saying undocumented immigrants don't qualify for Head Start and some Education Department programs.
7 min read
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration said Thursday that undocumented children are ineligible for Head Start and a number of other federally funded programs that the administration is classifying as similar to welfare benefits.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Federal How Medicaid, SNAP Changes in Trump's Big Budget Bill Could Affect Schools
The bill will stress a major funding stream schools rely on, leading to ripple effects that make it harder for schools to offer free meals.
6 min read
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington. The bill cuts federal spending for Medicaid and food stamps—cuts that stand to affect students and trickle down to schools.
Evan Vucci/AP