For a number of years now, the Oshkosh School Board has been very boring. Former Superintendent Stan Mack ushered in an era of groupthink that urged members not to disagree with each other in public, not to openly question administrators and to always vote in unanimity on agenda items to give the public the perception of a united front supporting everything the district wanted to do. Add to that the election of members all endorsed by the Oshkosh Education Association and that makes for few controversies. The last expression of real emotion at a School Board meeting was several years ago when members got feisty putting together the list of cuts that would be made if the last referendum had failed.
But tonight, there was the possibility of some real fireworks as the Board considers switching health insurance providers. The District had not gone out for bids on insurance in seven years–and likely would not have this year had their current carrier, Health Trust, not dropped a double digit premium increase on them. That exceeded the 8% hike that administrators had already factored into the budget–so the decision was made to see if they could save some money with another carrier.
And it turns out that the District can save a whole lot of money by changing carriers–to the tune of $4.3-MILLION by switching to Network Health Plan. But the various unions employed by the District oppose the change–as Health Trust allowed them to see almost any doctor or specialist they want–while Network Health will limit them to in-system physicians–or charge a hefty fee for out-of-network providers (also known as a health plan that the vast majority of non-public employees have).
And so, it was going to be interesting to see School Board members squirm tonight as they struggle with the decision to either continue to pander to their union base or if they actually give a $4.3-MILLION to the taxpayers they have gone to with and open palm several times in the past ten years asking for more and more money. But then the agenda for tonight’s meeting was published and the discussion of the health insurance bids has been moved into closed session.
I called over to Superintendent Vicki Cartwright’s office yesterday to question the closed session–as such a step is allowed only if the subject matter concerns competitive issues or bargaining strategies–neither of which exist in this case. The terms of all the bids were laid out in public at the last school board meeting–so no company is being put at a disadvantage by discussing their bids. And under Act 10, health insurance benefits are no longer subject to collective bargaining with the teachers union–so what is the negotiating strategy that needs to be kept out of public view? My years of covering this District lead me to believe that Board members want the cover of closed doors to hold an actual frank discussion about their decision–without having to air their differences in public.
I have received no answer from Superintendent Cartwright’s office yesterday–so I will be calling again today. And if I am still not provided with answers to justify the closed session, I will be contacting the attorneys that work with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association for legal guidance. Who knows, you may even see me appear before the School Board itself tonight challenging the attempt to go into closed session without proper justification for shutting out the public from what will go into making this decision. There are only $4.3-MILLION reasons why we should know why each Oshkosh School Board member votes they way they do tonight.
