From the Desk of the Executive Director

THERE IS A WAY TO WIN…

AEA closely follows a myriad of committees and boards to monitor and assess their decisions and impact on public schools, students and educators. We also develop recommendations and remedies that support the long-term success of the public school infrastructure. This year, as we monitored the Employee Board Division (EBD) meetings, the entity that decided on health insurance plans and premiums for state employees and public school employees. We began seeing concerning financial trends and knew AEA would have to work to support educators through what would come.

The Public School Employee (PSE) health insurance plan was headed for a $70 Million deficit and the State Employee plan was headed for a $35 Million deficit. By February, Governor Hutchinson announced PSE would get a $20 million infusion dropping the projected deficit down to $70 Million. EBD put out its recommendation to increase premiums for public school employees to skyrocket between 10 and 20 percent. In addition, the wellness benefit would decrease. As the Executive Director, I met with legislators and others policy makers to raise concerns on the impact of these rate increases on educators. Then, in April, Senate President Jimmy Hickey, filed a bill that eliminated the EBD board and transferred its duties to the Board of Finance.

Throughout all these happenings we worked to raise educator voice by writing op ed’s in the statewide newspaper, engaging media around the state and reminding policy makers that Arkansas’s educators have worked through a pandemic were now facing a massive spike in their health insurance costs. When the state announced a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion, we made clear there is no reason educators should have premium increases. We created a toolkit to help members engage at the local level with school boards and superintendents to raise their per employee contribution to the health insurance plan. In June, the State Employees Association accepted a 5 percent increase in their health insurance premiums. We worried what that would mean for public school educators. It also meant we were on this path alone, but, even a 5 percent increase was unacceptable for educators. I called on our staff and AEA members to double down on our efforts to tell our story. We even developed a full-blown social media campaign using infographics to help members and the community better understand the situation and more.

This months-long effort paid off. In July, the Board of Finance recommended no increase to health insurance premiums for Arkansas educators and the Governor and lawmakers pitched in enough in additional state funds to offset the projected shortfall in the plan. In late July, the legislature gave the final approval. This along with our successful campaign to protect the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System is a clear reminder that we know how to win. We have to know the subject matter, talk to decision makers, listen, and respect other points of view, work through the details, put a face to the impact of the decisions, act collectively and never stop trying to be heard.

Tracey-Ann Nelson AEA Executive Director

EDUCATOR

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Visit the Member’s Only section of www.AEAonline.org where you can find resources including our Educator Health Insurance Toolkit and information about the Association!