CPS board approves Stiepleman contract, benefit savings

UPDATE: The Board of Education unanimously approved both the insurance plan changes and Dr. Peter Stiepleman’s contract extension.

Kathy Steinhoff, head of the Columbia Missouri National Educators Association, said she hoped the savings from the insurance switch would stay within the employee salary and benefit category. CPS calculates retirement benefits for its teachers based on total compensation, including the amount paid toward health insurance premiums. Steinhoff said spending the savings on anything other than salaries or benefits could hurt retirement.

“So even though the district is saving money by not having yo put more money toward [premiums], they planned to,” Steinhoff said. “And we would have actually benefitted more if the premiums had increased than we would if they had spent it some place else.”

Chief financial officer Heather McArthur said the district processed $20 million worth of medical insurance claims in 2018. The district provided companies bidding on the insurance contracts to look through the 2018 claims and come back with how much it would cost them to handle.

The new insurance coverage will start on Jan. 1, 2020.

ORIGINAL: The Columbia Board of Education is expected to vote Monday night on a contract extension for Superintendent Peter Stiepleman and teacher benefits package changes.

Board vice president Jonathan Sessions said the board will vote on a series of bids for “management of health services.”

The school district is self-insured and uses a third-party provider to manage benefits.

“It helps us reduce costs, keep premiums low,” Sessions said. “We pay premiums for all of our teachers, but being able to keep those premiums low allows teachers to then get insurance for spouses and dependents.”

Changes to the current benefits package would include contracts with UMR for medical insurance adminitration, Delta Dental for dental insurance administration and Express Scripts Inc. for pharmacy benefits.

As of 2019, the district has been using CoreSource and HealthLink for medical insurance, Ameritas for dental insurance and MedTrak for pharmacy benefits.

This is the first time the district has explored changing benefit contracts in more than a decade.

“Being able to work with these partners helps lower our administration and management costs,” Sessions said.

He said this should help teachers.

The district expects to save about $2.3 million over three years on health insurance administration, $20,000 over three years on dental insurance services and about $9.3 million over three years on drug benefits.

Sessions said the school board has also worked with some of the teachers in the district in making changes to the benefits package.

“We have gone through exhaustive research, worked with our teachers’ groups on this, and the administration will talk about that tonight,” he said. “I think if anything, this is a move and approach and a slight change to the system that should not only make benefits easier to obtain, but help manage the cost for the Columbia Public Schools being self-insured.”

Sessions said CPS has been looking at these changes since last summer.

If the board decides to extend Stiepleman’s contract, it would add a year to his already three-year contract. Under the extension Stiepleman made about $206,000 this year.

“It would extend his contract through 2022,” Sessions said.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at 1818 W. Worley St.