The alternative proposal by Senate Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, to capture the savings would keep intact collective bargaining at the local level. The governor wants to negotiate health care benefits with teachers on a statewide basis.
The dispute over what the governor says is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for savings on teacher health care costs is holding up adjournment of the Legislature. Democratic leaders and union leaders say moving negotiations over health care to the statewide level would go against the principles of collective bargaining.
While details of the proposal were not shared with the press, Ashe said the draft plan would keep collective bargaining at the school district level and would have each district contribute to a savings fund.
Scott received Ashe’s proposal Wednesday afternoon.
Sources told VTDigger.org that, under Ashe’s plan, $13 million would be deducted from the education fund. Details remained murky but it appears that hole would be filled later when local school districts reported their savings to the secretary of education after concluding negotiations (which happens in the Webb amendment that passed the House last week). The agency would then withhold that amount in payments to the school district, perhaps requiring school districts to cut staff or programming in order to comply.
The Vermont School Boards Association and Vermont Superintendents Association were briefed on the Senate proposal. VSBA head Nicole Mace said it takes money out of local budgets, and she called it the worst outcome.
“The state is taking no responsibility [for the bargaining], but they are taking the money and making the job of negotiating harder and harder,” Mace said.
Nine school districts have reached new contract agreements, and more than 20 have declared impasse. Mace said those contracts cannot be taken back to renegotiate knowing they will have their budgets reduced.
School boards asked the state to bargain on their behalf because of the complexities and nuances of health care, according to Mace. “They were saying, ‘We need help. We see savings, and we need you to help us get them,’” she said. “[Legislators] are saying, ‘Thanks for letting us know, now go get them!’”
VSA head Jeff Francis said the standoff is emblematic of how difficult collective bargaining on health care can be.
The state estimates $75 million can be saved when teachers move Jan. 1 to plans that include health savings accounts. Scott has proposed giving the teachers back $49 million to cover out-of-pocket costs, with the remaining $26 million intended for property tax relief.
“Our proposal is the only one that delivers, that guarantees savings to taxpayers,” Ashe told the press outside the governor’s office. An analysis by the Legislative Council requested by Ashe (see below) raised legal questions about how the statewide contract negotiations would be made and questioned how much would actually be saved.
The Legislature is still in session because the governor refuses to leave Montpelier without a way to capture the $26 million a year in savings and has suggested he might veto the state budget if lawmakers do not find the savings.
In a memo to Ashe, Susanne Young, secretary of the administration, said the Ashe proposal would only bring in $13 million to the education fund and it could “exacerbate already complex collective bargaining arrangements” interfering with maximizing savings from the switch in health care plans.
Ashe told the press that his plan “guarantees $26 million.”
Young’s letter also states the Ashe proposal didn’t protect teachers enough and could result in teachers being fired or programs being cut. “It doesn’t consider the risk to school employees health benefits in the out years, stemming from dissimilar settlements across 61 supervisory unions and districts.”
Ashe said he is committed to keeping the Legislature in town while they work out this issue. He noted that in the past, lawmakers have made million dollar decisions in the last few moments they’ve later come to regret.
In the memo, Young tried to encourage discussions to continue, saying everyone agrees on saving taxpayers some money.
“One bright spot emerging in the discussion is that everyone clearly agrees there is an opportunity to save taxpayers millions of dollars,” she wrote.
Editor’s note: This story was updated May 11 at 2:15 p.m. and will be again as required.
