TEACHER OBJECTIONS TO AN INSURANCE PROGRAM:

When I ran for the school board in 1991, after losing in 1990, I made a point of talking to teachers to ascertain their concerns.  Almost without exception, when I visited with a teacher, at that time their most often stated concern was that the current insurance carrier was not providing suitable coverage.

At the first work study meeting that I attended (and the only one I ever went to when there was no member of the public in the audience), the superintendent led a discussion of the proposed re-upping of the current policy.  When the rest of the board finished asking questions about the provider, the superintendent turned to me and said, "Perhaps our newest member can suggest a solution to this problem." 

I welcomed the opportunity (I had sat quietly as an observer which is what wise people do in new situations) and said, "Well, you've just promoted Scooter McMeans to be in charge of the insurance program, so why don't you trust him to go out and find suitable carriers from whom we can select the best one."

Believe it or not, that's what they did!

Mr. McMeans took the bull by the horns and came back with a proposal to change carriers to Aetna.

And Aetna for many years provided good coverage for our teachers.

There's no doubt in my mind that the teachers would have been stuck with the same carrier they had been objecting to if I hadn't intervened.

What I noted almost immediately was that the administration in a school district has no sense of how to run a business--which is what a school district is--at least from my point of view.  Public schools would be run much better if the School Board hired an MBA to run the District. Then the superintendent could hire an educator of note to administer the curriculum and methodology of the schools.