001Mr. Lee >> here. >> Mr. Beckard >> here. >> Mr. Culler >> here. >> Miss Lee >> here. Mr. Verbos >> here. >> Miss Carp here. Miss Deal >> here. Miss Kaiser >> here. President Burns >> present. All right. Now we can say proper notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the open meeting laws of the state of Wisconsin and that would bring us to our modifications to the agenda tonight. Are there any modifications? >> There are no modifications. >> All right, then that will lead us right into the superintendent's report. >> Good evening. Good evening. We have a very uh short report tonight, but I promise I'll pay everybody back next time as as we start the school year. There are no leg legislative updates on tonight, so we can actually
002skip that particular part. We want to uh announce that the annual report is available. Uh it was released on August 12th. This is com compiled by our communications department and it's also available on our new district website. So, we would encourage everyone to take a peek at the annual report uh that was released on August 12th, our new teacher kickoff. They had an opportunity to hear from me as well as uh everything that's going on in our district. I want to thank all of our principles as well as our new teachers for participating in what I thought was a very engaging event. Uh it was great to to see new faces and also to see some old faces as well. So, uh, thanks to our teaching and learning team as well as our our human
003resources, uh, team for getting things together for that particular event, Battle of the Dogs. Want to thank everyone for coming out on Friday night. It was an exciting game. Zero at the half. Uh, Hail, Nathan Hail, uh, Huskies pulled it out at the end 28-7. Um, really uh, want to send a shout out. I would say the player of the game was Jeremiah Mars from Nathan Hail. I want to say he had three touchdowns. Is that correct? I think that's right. He he he had a great game. So, uh, but again, o overall it was an outstanding event. Um, a lot of participation from the community, a lot of smiling faces, and when I tell you those Central Bulldogs definitely showed improvement. I was very proud of them as well. to to hold Nathan H
004to no points in the first half. I was very impressed, but uh want to send a special shout out to the coaches. Coach Pritzell made some adjustments at half and I called him out on it and it was definitely uh it was it was uh it warranted that victory. So, led him to victory. So, thank you for everybody who came out to the event. Just a quick reminder, we do have the um back to school bash on this coming Wednesday. We want to uh invite all of our community to come out. We will have some giveaways. Uh all of our schools will be represented as well. We have a table from uh human resources as well. Uh we have some EA positions that are still available that we're still trying to fill. So we just
005encourage everyone to come out and participate in this event. This is the third annual. I want to stop saying the number. I know Mr. Lee a couple of years ago put me on the spot and said, "Hey, this was the first annual." So that means that we had to have a second one. And now we're on number three. And uh but I I will say this, each year the participation has increased. So that tells me that it's catching on and there's a need and a want in our community for this event. Uh community events that I participated in, I participated in the um WULI kickoff uh with DPI. That's the uh event that focuses on closing the achievement gap. So we have several schools who are participating in that particular program. We did have leadership
006training on the 13th. our West Dallas West Milwaukee uh Rotary Club on the 14th. I attended that. We had met with Chief Randolph from uh Village of West Milwaukee on the 15th. I did participate and and not participate, but I I was there to witness the Wizard of Oz. Outstanding job from our students again. Uh they they always put on the best show and so um uh great job on uh as well as to the producers of the show. Uh Niola policy revision. This will be the last time for a good while. So, we're we're grateful that particular period has ended where we've sort of merged our administrative guidelines into a complete document at this particular time. Also, uh breakfast with the secondary principles as well as breakfast with the elementary principles. It was a
007good time for us to sit down, break bread, and just talk and just um you know, just create that that camaraderie that I know we need to be successful. Managers meeting, new staff training as mentioned before, and then the battle of the dogs. And I think that concludes the report. Is that correct? All right, that concludes the report for this evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Robinson. All right, that'll take us to our public comments. So, at this time, if anyone would like to address the board, you may sign up in the back of the room or in the Zoom link uh in the chat. You have three minutes to provide comments. The board cannot discuss, debate, or act upon any item addressed during the public comments portion of the school board meeting. Follow-up may be
008provided by the superintendent at the next regular board meeting. Uh at this time I believe there is no one currently signed up. So we'll give just a few seconds for people to sign up if they want to. Seeing no one signing up, we'll move on uh to our board reports. And so that'll bring us to 8.1, the review of our board calendar. Uh so tonight is August 25th. We have a regular board meeting with the financial stability and efficiency workshop uh over health insurance. September 8th, uh we have a regular board meeting again with the strategic plan and public budget hearing at 6 p.m. September 15th, we have a board workshop meeting uh focused on athletics. And then on September 22nd, we will have another regular scheduled board meeting uh talking on our referendum workshop
009number one. Um yes. >> Could you just provide a little more background on what the referendum workshop number one is about? This is not a new referendum we're talking about. Is that correct? >> No. >> Yeah, actually I can do that for my water. This is actually just an update on what's happened uh since uh the summertime. So, this is an opportunity for us to give a verbal update to the community and anyone who's interested in what's going on if they seeing a lot of the cranes around our district. We're just going to explain what's been happening. So, that's the purpose. >> Thank you. Just want to make sure we >> be clear on that. Um, and then with that, that will take us into our board committee reports. And so, our first committee report
010should be the communication and community relations board member deal. >> Actually, I'm going to pass at this time because my computer's decided it doesn't want to cooperate. So, if we could either come back to me or we can put push it off until our next board meeting, the update. >> Fair enough. We can go with that. And so, that'll take us to our employee engagement and culture. Uh, board member Carr. >> Thank you. The employee engagement and culture committee met on Thursday, August 14th at 5:00 pm. We started the meeting discussing our goal of increasing our substitute pool. Director D. Garcia shared her research about hiring an outside agency to secure and manage subs for us. She reported that the agency increased substitutes for other districts by an average of 20%. And although there would
011be a fee, we're curious as if it would be lower or higher than the amount that the school principles do out for paying staff to take someone else's class because of a lack of subs. So again, there's a trade-off there, right? We would pay for an agency, but we're already paying inhouse to cover those classes. So it it it uh overall hiring an agency sounds promising and we will keep you updated. We're keeping going until we are firm and we can bring that to the whole board. We also discussed our incentives continuing with incentives for substitutes like bonuses, paid time off, and the like. We will continue to collect more data about that by talking to other districts. And when we're feeling confident, we're going to bring that back to the board as well. Our
012next topic on the agenda was the employee engagement survey. We looked at the areas employees rated our district the lowest and chose one to focus on. We picked I would recommend that parents select my organization to serve their child. So we picked that. it was low and we were curious and disappointed that it was low. We had a quick conversation about it. It will be part of the forefront of um our employee engagement agendas. But we wanted to note that oftenimes staff is really loyal to their school though. So when they rated their schools, they rated the schools high but not always their district as a whole. So, we're we'll continue to recommend strategies to increase the score on the survey, but again, we just wanted to delve into that more to see um you
013know, why was that low and what can we do to change that? And that concludes my report for the August MEC meeting. >> Thank you. Uh are there any questions for this? >> Quick question just just to make sure I heard you correctly. Did you say that? Uh so the question was I would recommend parents choose the district right it's not their individual school. >> Yes. >> Okay. So that because I as soon as you mentioned that phenomena of people uh trusting and choosing their local districts and their local teachers. >> It's the same kind of thing you see when people talk about public schools on a national scale in which they say they're terrible >> but I love my local school. >> That's an interesting phenomena. That's thank you. >> And that's what I
014think it is a phenomena. And so, you know, we have to look at things like um how are we wording the question? Is there some way that we do we have a question on there about would you recommend your school? Would you re with we're going to delve into that a little bit more. >> I can actually comment on that. This is one of the reasons why we we actually switched to um to use school perceptions from now on because the previous company did not do a good job of sort of separating uh the questions. In other words, if someone is filling the the the answering the question, it wasn't clear, are you asking about the school or you asking about the district. >> So, a lot of times it's conflated and so there were
015not separate sections for for that particular. So, we so we tried to do a good job of as best as we could to try to uh make it make sense, but that was a huge problem and trying to understand what is this telling us. Uh just to also comment about um some of the things that that um board member Carr mentioned are going to be really really pushed in our new strategic plan that we are make we're we're we're hellbent on making this the a district of choice for this area. So that's going to be a huge push within this next strategic plan. We'll kind of talk about that on the ETH um what what we're what we're thinking over the five years and how we're going to elevate that out. So yeah, >> I
016haven't looked at this t-shirt yet, but does it say hellbent on making our district a choice locally? I hope so. >> Excuse my language, but hey, we're we're good. >> All right, thank you. Any other questions? >> All right, seeing none, that'll take us to our financial stability and efficiency committee. Uh, board member Kaiser. >> All right, thank you. We met last Thursday, Octo August 21st um talking old business about our compensation model. Unfortunately, due to the flood, the compensation model meeting did not occur and we'll pick up again in a few weeks because so many people were affected. Uh 2526 budget forecast. The good news is we we've decreased the protected deficit by lowering operating budgets, looking to move SRO's to other funding, and looking to reduce the number of buses that we currently
017use. uh January 2026 health re insurance renewal and self-funding. The health insurance increase for the district was better than expected, which is a weird way of saying it, but the numbers they came out as originally were 23% and is down to 11% with some changes. Brown and brown are here tonight to present later today. And then um I had brought up parabytes. It's a program that one time purchased through professional through CISA for par profofessionals. Um, I had just brought up to Miss Sage that it's possibly already been in use here in the district. So, uh, we're follow up on that and see what else we can do uh to support our special ed EAS. And that's my report. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions? All right. Seeing none, that'll take us to our
018recreation and community services board member Lee. >> Thank you, President Burns. We met last Monday via Zoom. Um, let's see. preseason checklists are underway and all set for the ads um for the start of the fall seasons. Um we did notice that there um there was some minor damage to the soccer field. It had already been they had been out there assessed it and had already set up to have it um fixed. So that's good to go. Um the strategic plan um in talking and asking people you know opinions on what we can work on and things. One of the things that came up was um was in regards to our engagement. It was requested that we do better to recognize accomplishments and accolades and things like that. And one of the things that um
019had been done was the communications um department had met with sports picks. So, we now are able to use those action pictures to put out there to people and showcase more of what goes on and things like that aside from, you know, during our board meetings and whatnot. Um, let's see. Bobby Foreman is continuing to work with our ads to keep the communication and expectations and stuff between, you know, the flow of the intermediate schools to the high school just have a better um better communication and what what we want or hope that the incoming athletes are have knowledge on and so on and so forth. Um, coach evaluations are complete. Um yearly surveys for program and sport for athlete and parents are complete. That's being done through school perceptions. Um the seasonal survey for
020athletes is set. Um Shelley and Dr. Robinson hosted an all coaches and ads meeting last week um where they shared policies and where they're headed and thoughts, concerns. Um as far as construction goes, um renovating here. The offices, they're working on the offices. Um they're close to the exterior being closed up on track for completion. Um and there is a date for equipment installation and let's see that is it. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions? All right. Seeing none we'll move on to our next space which is Oh, are you ready now? >> Are you sure? I wasn't sure if it was still gone. All right, we're back in. All right, never mind. We won't move to our next one. We will go to our communication uh and community relations. >> Thank you. Thank
021you, Brandon. Um, okay. So, our committee met tonight at 5:00. Um, and we talked about the website and app updates. So, in March of 2020, the school district uh contracted with Final Site as our website platform for a term of 5 years. Um due to poor customer service and a lack of user friendliness with final site, the district began to explore other website platforms starting in February of 2024. Uh based on research and feedback from neighboring districts website platform options were narrowed down to Edlio and Apt Apttoy. After exploring each platform further, the communications team selected Edlio as the district's new website platform due to customizable website templates, a user-friendly content management system, support with onboarding, training, continued guidance, etc. and a more simplified and personalized staff internet. A 42-month contract was signed with Edio
022in December of 2024 for a total cost of $33,562.50. This breaks down to about $79911 per month versus $1,951.30 per month for our previous website platform, Final Site. Um the school district uh the WAWWM school district app is also currently being developed with the Edio platform and it is available for both iPhones via the app Apple store and Androids via Google Play. The communications team is meeting with website developers at each school building and will be attending staff meetings at secondary schools to share more about the website and app. And that's my committee report. >> All right. Thank you. Questions on that? Oh. All right. Uh well then that will move us into our board member reports for community events. Any uh reports that you'd like to put out there? Yes. >> So I was
023out and about. I went to our RAD which is recreational adult day. Um and um that is that is for our um adult children with disabilities that um we service. and they did a fundraiser for a a universal changing table and it was pricey and expensive and their their goal was to raise $3,000 and they ended up raising over $6,000 and they were very proud and we had a get together and they explained what it would would be used for and it was just a a delightful afternoon. And then I did do the um uh attended the Wizard of Oz. Um and I always try and pick out one thing that I noticed or one thing that stood out to me. And this one I got to give props to the costumes. So, there was
024the one scene, for those people that didn't attend, the one scene when Dorothy's in the poppy fields and all of their students that are in these beautiful poppy costumes and they're dancing around and everything. And then what? Glenda, the good witch, she comes and she saves them from this spell and they turn into white costumes by just like I don't know, they unbutton something or whatever and then they turn into these lovely white costumes. I thought, "Wow, somebody spent a lot of time and effort on those." And the kids just really I mean the costumes can really make it and that's exactly what happened there. So I really wanted to give props to them. Um I also did um attend the new teacher welcome and um enjoyed that and thought that you know if I
025had to leave with just you know one word I would say that the theme was support and supporting our new teachers and I can't tell you how many times I've heard that throughout um you know this last year and going into this year and um so you know when you hear it that much it it's happening and I just heard Dr. Robinson saying, you know, uh, we had a breakfast for the principles and supporting everybody at every level. So, as a board member, I love to see that because that trickles down and makes everybody successful and and improves our culture. So, that's it for me. >> Thank you. >> Um, Wizard of Oz on the same note was phenomenal. I I can't speak highly enough to the set design with the pictures and the images
026in the background. I just thought that was so beautiful and so well done. Um so huge props as always to Mr. Pard for that. Um I want you I'm so glad you said support because I have a student field placement I had last year who's being hired by the district. I'm thrilled for them. But the first thing so many people have said was I can't wait to support them people in those roles. I'm just thrilled to hear that. Um, oh, and the game was really fun. Some fancy food apparently was getting thrown around, but it was a really good time. Great to see so many families. Um, really nice to see the camaraderie and it's really shout out to the two the the young people who went out and helped people in our neighborhoods after
027all the flooding. Uh, that's remarkable because you want to build good people, not just good athletes. So, I'm just really proud of those young people who stepped up. >> Great. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Yes. All right. Well, one, yes, I did Wizard of Oz, and I got to tell you, like the thing that I thought was really, really kind of poignant about it is that it was the final show of this season, which means it was the final show for a lot of these performers that have been doing these shows for the last four years. I mean, we saw and I thought it it felt like it was a really great almost passing of the torch because the a lot of them were playing, you know, secondary characters, you know, uh the lead wasn't
028one of those seniors that's going away. So, I thought it was it was really great to have that that group, that really anchored group that had been doing so much be in those supporting roles. Um, so I thought it was kind of a bittersweet kind of a show to see that way. Um, we did the Battle of the Dogs thing, serving food and whatnot. That was a great time. I got to meet a lot of people. It was my first like beginning of the school year event since I've been elected to the board. So, I was meeting a lot of people that way. Um, which was a great experience for me. But the other thing that I wanted to make a mention because President Burns told me I should make a mention about uh because
029I had missed, you know, I was I had missed a meeting and then I didn't think it was a big deal last time. But uh over the summer my my son who should have graduated um actually worked his way through graduation during summer break using the Goto program. And I wanted to give a shout out to how amazing that program is, the people involved in it, the work they're doing with the students, the support that he was getting along the way. Uh, I was I'm overwhelmingly proud of him, but I think it's a really great thing to have available for these students. Um, and I think it's a great program overall. So, I wanted to give a thank you on the record for that. That's it. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Any other
030reports? >> Yeah, >> just one. Of course, this Battle of the Dogs um was awesome. Weather was perfect. Could have used a few less mosquitoes. Um, but I have to say for all the Battle of the Dogs that I have been to and all through all my children, it was it was the best game yet because the competitiveness was, you know, much more on that even platform. And so it was just really cool to actually, you know, to get those get in your feels about it and and not knowing really what was going to happen and stuff and and so and the sportsmanship on both sides was awesome. So it was just a lot of fun. >> Awesome. All right. Good. Yeah. Yes. Mr. Lee. >> Yeah. So, I got to start with Wizard of
031Oz. It was my daughter's first experience in working. She wasn't on uh the cast, but she was on the crew. Uh I think she had a good time, although I couldn't get her to say that, so maybe someone else can ask her. Um and let me know what she says. Uh but the show, I had not seen The Wizard of Oz since I was a kid. And so, my references were really from the original movie. And I'll have to say there was stuff that if I would have closed my eyes, I wouldn't have been able to tell if that was from the movie that I, you know, know from my being a kid or from the show that they were doing. The the dancing, the the music, how they were be able to to match
032some of those voices is crazy. I mean, the Wicked Witch of the West, I mean, she her her laugh was phenomenal. It was right spot on with how it sounded like from the original movie. So, um, kudos to all involved with that. Uh, I think it was a great show. It just really is an awesome opportunity for individuals in our district to be able to participate in that and I'm looking forward to additional shows in the future. Another thing I want to shout out is the Battle of the Dogs. Uh it was a great time. You know, Central, they had to lead for a little bit. Uh and so I think, you know, for those of you who might know the history, that doesn't happen very often. And so I think that this just goes
033to show that um all the programs are improving and that um despite the outcome, you know, we do have some uh competition there. And you know, next year we as we know they're going to be in the same conference again for the first time in in several years. So that could uh be some, you know, make that an even higher level competition that we see between those two schools. So um thank you for everyone who came out and participated in that event and um great to see that as another annual event that we see moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Anyone else? Once, twice. Sure. >> It's all repeats, but I'll go anyway. Uh Wizard of Oz is great. Uh my kids are uh pretty busy during the school year, so I
034really appreciate the opportunity for them to do the the crew in the summertime. Uh it's just a nice change of pace for them. Uh getting to see kids from different circles. So, really enjoyable. My dad loved it. Uh he kept on wanting to talk to Mr. Power and I was trying to let Mr. part of his life. But, uh, it is really nice to to see people get excited about it who don't come around to our district too often. Uh, also made it to the Battle of the Dogs. Really great night, really great event. Uh, made it to the first day for news uh, for new teachers. And I think the the sentiment is right on. We're looking to support them. That's the whole reason why I like to go let them know we're here.
035We're in their corner. We want to see them succeed. Um, I'll be there for this week's too for the first day. For all the new teachers, same thing. I just want to show them support. >> All right. Thank you. Um any others? No. Okay. Uh so with that then we will go to other updates and information. I don't think that I have anything that is pertinent yet. Nope. So we'll move on to our consent agenda which involves uh 9.1 our approval of minutes, 9.2 two, our employment summary, 9.3 our supplementary contracts, and 9.4 um our financial summary. Um does anyone need anything separated out? >> Um I'm recusing myself from 9.2. >> Recusing yourself from 9.2. So do we you want to separate that so we can vote on that separately? >> Yes, please. >>
036Okay. All right. Um, anything else then for that needs separating out? No. All right. Um, then is there any objection to the approval of the consent agenda with 9.1, 9.3, and 9.4? >> I would object. >> All right. Hearing an objection, we would look for a motion. >> Move to approve. >> Second. What motion are we moving? There's no motion made. >> Didn't you ask for a motion? >> I did, but we need the motion. I haven't made a motion. I asked, are we approving it? >> Move to approve. That's what I said. >> What are we approving? >> 9.1 9.3 9.4. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right, then. Do I have the second? >> Yes. Second. >> All right. Uh, then all those in favor? I >> I >> those opposed. >> All
037right, that passes >> then we will move to 9.2 the employment summary. Um and so then I would look for this one as well. Is there any objection to the approval of the employment summary? Uh which includes just 9.2 >> hearing object. I mean she needs to recuse herself so we need to vote individually on that. She >> she already recused herself so we separate it out. I objected. >> So heard. >> Then I uh look for a motion. >> Move to approve 9.2. >> Second. >> All right. That is moved and seconded. Then all those in favor? >> I. >> Those opposed. >> All right. And that passes. Then that will take us on to our board workshop which is our financial stability and efficiency workshop which is our health insurance which should be
038Brown and Brown and Mr. Norris. Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chris. Just enough. Perfect. Look at that. [Laughter] and many talents. >> Well, good evening everyone. Let me just quick start and give some introductions with who's here this evening. Um, so again with me to my right is Jill Rowski. She handles our retiree benefits and Jessica Johnson. She handles our active employee for employee benefits. On my left is the team from Brown and Brown. They're uh Lorenzo De Mateo and Chris Smezard there with us. They've been with us for I'd say a little over a decade now um with working with the district uh potentially longer um but in my time here um really have been our go-to for employee benefits and really for health insurance which seems to be um an annual discussion
039around kind of where the markets going, kind of what a renewal looks like, what are our trends, and kind of what does the short and long term look like. So that's kind of the goal of the evening is to give the board kind of a deeper dive into kind of what's been happening over the past year with health insurance. Uh specifically to our district and kind of what the team that you see here this evening has been discussing over the past few months as it relates to kind of what that looks like both in January uh 2026 and also kind of what that might look like um I suppose in the near the short term. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Lorenzo and Chris to walk us through um a short
040presentation, and there'll be time for you guys to ask questions at the end. So, >> this is you're good. Yep. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. So, we want to just jump into the agenda for the the presentation. So what we've done in the past and what we'll continue to do is provide just an update of how the health insurance plan experience has been um both at a high level in terms of the loss ratio as well as just some high level plan experience. Do have one slide that talks about what's going on in the overall market as it relates to health insurance nationally. Um, and then when we talk about uh the renewal with United Healthcare for 2026, we'll get into the renewal as well as some renewal options. Um, we'll talk through the
041RFP or the marketing that we did for health insurance for 26 as well as talk through uh the self-funding analysis that we completed for 2026 and then wrap up with district recommendations and of course questions. So, a quick summary of plan experience for 2025. And um we talk about experience, we're talking about loss ratio, which loss ratio is looking at the paid medical and prescription drug claims by United Healthcare versus compared to the premium that's been paid by the district overall. So uh the loss ratio through April, this is a calendar year is 105.1%. Uh premium paid so far about 5.5 million with paid claims of 5.8 million. Um we've been seeing the loss or the the paid claims tick up uh as time's gone on throughout 25. That's not uncommon. As people start to
042meet their deductibles and out of pockets, you know, you start to see pay claims go up throughout the year. Um, just to give you an idea in terms of large claims. So, this would be a member. So, it could be an employee, it could be a spouse, it could be a child with over $50,000 in paid claims through April. There's 14 of them. Um, which account for about 29% of total paid claims for those 14 members, five members through April with paid claims greater than 100,000. Um, which is about 20% of total paid claims. So when you think of know a group the size of the district now it's not uncommon to have a very small number of people driving a very high portion of cost. That's just the reality of health care right now
043in the country. Um so uh if we want to move forward Erin to the next slide just providing some additional experience. So this is a little bit of a different time period. It's May of 24 through April of 25 and then it's noted correctly on the packet May of 23 through April of 24. What we do is look at in this example per member per month cost. So again member could be a dependent child uh an employee or or a spouse. Um when we compare those two periods paid claims have increased about 4%. Interesting. Interesting enough, the uh per member per month medical claims actually decreased about 6% but you'll see prescription drug RX cost increased about 30%. So primarily uh when we look at the most recent 12-month period that's being driven by prescription
044drug claims. Um and then during uh this period, which again is May through April, 64 members had had 50,000 or more in paid claims. I'm accounting for about 7.1 million total payments. 46% of the population has at least one chronic condition. So a chronic condition, think of something as a diabetes, high blood pressure. um uh of that uh those members costs ppm are about 5.7 times more than members without chronic conditions. So just speaks to the importance of um keeping a healthy population or if you do have a chronic condition managing that condition um for example like going to the on-site clinic. Um 9% of membership during the the most recent period have a catastrophic complex or rare condition. So think of that for example if someone with cancer for example would would fall into
045that category. Uh the top conditions driving claims factors influencing health and care which primarily in that category sounds weird to put it in that category but cancer is falling into that group. Muscularkeeletal and then injury and poisoning. Um the injury and poisoning that's one claimant specifically that had a complication from a muscularkeeletal procedure like a hip knee replacement um that had complications that's driving that category overall. Um, but again, just wanted to provide some more clinical data as it relates to what's going on from a plant experience perspective. And then what's going on from the market nationally, and this is specific, I'd say this is also very uh true for southeastern Wisconsin. Uh, prescription drug RX trend generally is between 10 and 13% and there's a number of factors driving that. GLP1s is is a
046huge driver of prescription drug spend right now in the market. Think of the commercials for Ozmpic, for Mangaro, but as well for weight loss specific drugs like WGOI um as well and uh is is a huge driver of cost. Specialty prescription drugs, see the commercials for Humira, for example, is is one of them. Sky Rizzy, those um uh anti-inflammatory Thanks Chris. medications, gene therapy, uh, rare, uh, to happen, but more medications are coming out in the market, specifically gene cell therapy. Treatments, for example, range between a half a million to $3 million right now for one-time treatment. Again, rare to have it, but it's out in the market. And then cancer, uh, we're seeing a lot of cancer, uh, costs move to prescription drug spend, as well as what historically had been fall under the
047medical plan. um seeing drivers now for oncology, for prescription drugs, uh just overall seeing a increase in high-cost claimments across the board. So claimments with 50,000 or more in paid claims. Historically, you know, that number may have been harder to get to from a claim perspective, but it's become much more common to see a claim at 50,000 or more. Muscular skeletal conditions, uh continues to be a cost a cost driver. And then behavioral health claims as we continue to see behavioral health be utilized more which is a great thing. Um access to behavioral health providers continues to be an issue not just in Wisconsin but nationally. Um so that is also driving up trend in cost uh both in the state and and nationally. So, as it relates to the United Healthcare renewal, specifically the
048the district uh currently, as you know, is with United Healthcare utilizing the Nexus acco tier ones focused on providers that are Freigher, uh the Medical College of Wisconsin, Advocate, Aurora, and what am I missing there? Children's. Thank you. Uh and tier 2 would be all just other in network providers. Um today, uh the district received $750,000 in funding from United Healthcare to pay for the on-site clinic as well as other wellness initiatives. Um also, United Healthcare provides uh a position called a nurse liaison, which valued at about $164,000. her role today is to assist in um really focusing on wellness initiatives within the district as well as just assisting employees that may have questions related to United Healthcare. The initial renewal uh that underwriting was calculating with United Healthcare was 35.5%. Again, that's looking at
049historical experience trending that forward compared to the premium that's being paid today. They came out with a renewal of uh 29.9% Sorry, sorry, 23.9% and then in terms of the negotiated in uh increase without changes that uh UHC was able to get to was 18%. And a large driver of that was the change that the district made to Nexus accomp um and they understand that the district is focused on um really on that network as well as supporting it. So that was one of the the drivers for the reduction to 18% without plan changes. >> Yeah. To add a little color there, we had substantial discussion with United Healthcare leadership. They made clear that it was very important that West Dallas, West Milwaukee had demonstrated their commitment to driving change through adoption of the Nexus
050acco. Um so that was a significant factor. I will tell you and we'll speak to it in a little bit about the market. You'll see there was no market. There is no market here outside of United Healthcare. So we had no leverage. Um but they also commented to just the partnership we have with them. We have a lot of business with them just given our client base. Um so all of that went into that reduction. So wouldn't take that reduction lightly. We were actually very surprised that they were agreeable to reduce the renewal to where they were without any change. We'll talk about some change tonight. uh nothing material but it was a huge commitment from United Healthcare to move from that 24 to the 18. So as it relates to the market as I
051mentioned we did go out to the market and ask for proposals for fully insured quotes. So, we did go to Anthem Network Health Plan, WPS, and of course, United Healthcare is the incumbent. Um, that really is in the state right now in southeastern Wisconsin, the fully insured marketplace. There are no other carriers that would fit uh West Dallas based off of really the the networks and opportunities uh in southeastern Wisconsin. Anthem network health plan did provide a proposal. WPS declined a quote u estimating a 45% increase over your current rates. You'll see on this slide the negotiated UHC increase at 18%. Anthem offers two network options abroad which is basically every major provider system in in southeastern Wisconsin as well as a narrow network. The narrow network is focused on um Prohe Health and Advocate
052Aurora does not include Freigher which the clinic is administered by Freigher today. So that would be a difficult uh transition to go to that narrow network option. And then network health plan um offers an in and out of network benefit option and then basically an option that's in network benefits only. network health plan does not have advocate Aurora in their network which is another major uh provider that's utilized by the district uh employees and their family members and also is a complete shift against the Nexus acco network. So not only were the the rates not uh attractive as it as it relates to the cost but also just the network disruption would be significant for for district membership to to make a change. And just to add to that too, um again when we shifted
053from WA to United Healthcare given that WA went out of business um we essentially the first year we had every everything was in network before going to the Nexus ACO tier 2. So the challenge when we talked about even if these renewals came in close about making a shift where potentially advocate Aurora or Freigher were out we just spent a whole year helping people shift from you know a prohealth and ascension to get to a primary care at freigher to Aurora only to undo it. >> So it's we talk about disruption it's hard to even measure that impact on families and staff members. So I just want to keep that in the back of your head if you have questions here that's also a consideration that I think you know is is worth some weight.
054So >> yeah, and and as you're looking at this as well, maybe after this discussion, if you're comparing the numbers on this page to really current state, the ones most applicable are the WPS at 45%, the Anthem Broad at 35% and the network health to a certain extent at the 38%. So those are really the options most like what you have today. So they're really not options. I mean they're at least double the cost or more based on the underwriting. So that's why I said earlier we didn't have a market. Realistically we had no leverage with United Healthcare because that's the pricing uh the increases that you're seeing from the marketplace. So the next step we took as it relates to discussions with United Healthcare now that we had negotiated the renewal down to that
05518% number was what are some plan options to consider? Um, and what we've come to is really a change in the prescription drug co-pays, increasing each by $10. So, for example, tier one from $10 to $20, tier 2 from $ 35 to 45, and tier three prescriptions from $70 to $80. Um, in addition to that, reducing the wellness funding from 750,000 to 550,000. Um the 550,000 would still cover the amount needed for the on-site clinic administered by Freigher. Uh it would also cover expenses for the physical therapy at ATI which we have a the district has direct relationship with. >> Uh and then it would in addition to that cover the wellness or gym reimbursement program that the district has in place. So the 750 was an really in excess of uh what probably we
056we needed. Um which is why we feel the 550 would still be appropriate based off of the expenses that the district has occurred in the past. And then the removal of the nurse leaison position that again is worth about $164,000. Uh I know the the district values that that position from the administrative team but at the same time is focused on cost uh and the impact employees and their paycheck. So um you know the the recommendation is to to move forward with removing that position. Um really all those changes the co-pays the wellness funding and the nurse leaison removing that position uh gets that 18% down to 11% or about $1.8 $8 million uh increase overall. >> And just for some context on the wellness funding, so when we switched from WA to United Healthcare,
057when the team at Brown and Brown went to bid, we actually went to bid prior to that announcement happening. And so at the time, >> and correct me if I'm wrong, Chriso, the 750 is what actually the clinic used to cost through Everside. And not soon after we shift to we shifted to United Healthcare that April, we shifted to Freigher. and that clinic expense is much less. So that 750 to 550, that's actually the dollars we use to redo um the staff workout rooms, weight rooms, the high schools. So I think it's a good example of a a want, not a need. Like certainly willing to do that, likely do it again this year. We can to finish that up, but not certainly something we have to have. I think that was kind of the
058thought process. So >> yeah, and another clarifying point, great points there, Erin. So pre in previous renewals with United Healthcare, reducing that wellness fund was not going to impact the renewal because of rate guarantees in place. So there was no incentive to eliminate that. So when we talk excess, there were excess dollars there, but removing them did not impact the district at all. Now the rate guarantees have lapsed. So now we're looking at standard underwriting. So now reducing that wellness credit will actually benefit the premiums and ultimately the district and its employees. So, small print on the screen, but as it relates to premiums. So, this slide is showing a summary of really what called the base plan, which is that $2,000 deductible plan, the buyup plan, which is the $500 deductible plan. Um, and
059then broken out by wellness and non-wellness participation. So, staff have a reduction or a lower premium if they participate in a biometric screening event. um which a majority of staff do. Uh so uh with that there are different rates associated with participating in that biometric screening and not participating. Um on the let's say the the left side is the total premium the district or employer contribution and then the employee contribution then the percent of the employees pay for 25 and then to the right is 26. So that box in the red uh is or outlined in red is really a summary of the total premium increase. So that would be district and employee paid that uh so for example a single uh tier active based plan 10.8%. What the employee would pay as an increase
060per month from what they're paying today. So out of their paycheck or not of their paycheck but for the full month and then the percent increase. So you can see on that top row the base plan or the $2,000 plan for the single tier about a $8.78 increase for single for a month and then for family in that plan $22 just over $22 and then for the buyup plan $18. And then for the uh for single and $37 for family >> and that's the gross amount. That's the pre-tax amount. >> That would be the pre-tax, right? That's just a a thing to consider. Like the numbers you see in the far right column, second in employee monthly uh dollar increase, that's going to be pre-tax. So the actual amount that'll differ from someone's paycheck is
061going to be their tax status, whatever their filing status is and their W4 and things like that that impact essentially the withholding. So that's not the actual amount that people would see monthly decrease, but it'd be less than that to some degree. Yeah, go ahead. >> It's an odd question, but like >> what's the average family size for West Dallas for people who are, you know, I mean, like I'm thinking $22 a month increase, but if it's a trai, you know, family of four, >> it's not a big burden based on like $8 a person or is I'm just >> The average family size is 2.4. Okay, >> the district. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, [Music] so the next two slides get into our self-funding analysis. Um, today the district is fully insured. What that
062means is that United Healthcare bears the risks of all expenses. So in years where claims are higher than premium, United Healthcare loses money. In years where uh claims expenses are lower than premium, you know, then they're going to make money, right? So they're ultimately bearing the full risk and they're giving the district a set premium. There is a solution or strategy uh in the market called self insurance or self-funded which ultimately what it means is that the district would pay a third party to administer the medical plan. Um you'd have access to their network their contracts. You'd pay a fee for that. You'd pay a third party to or PBM prescription benefit manager to pay for prescription drug claims or administer those claims. And you ultimately would be funding the actual claims expense. So, we'd
063create an expected cost for those claims. You'd budget off of that, but some months may be higher than that budget, some months may be lower than that budget. If throughout the year the costs are higher than that budget number, then the district needs to make up for those funds. Uh, in months where it's lower, then those are periods of time or years where, right, the districts come out ahead financially. Um what we have gone through is got is did a an indepth analysis of the marketplace of some administrators as well as um of medical plan as well as prescription benefit managers went through a projection process to estimated self-funded cost compared to the fully insured renewal to really better determine or best determine what is the the the best choice at least for for this
064year moving forward. So with the self-funded analysis, costs were anywhere between 12 and 29% um com uh compared to what you're paying today in terms of fully insured premium. And there's a a reason for that uh discrepancy. One is the administrator of the actual claims, the network that you have access to, right, can greatly change the cost for a self-funded employer. So the contracts that the the TPA has are very important. and we went to multiple TPA three in our analysis. Uh in addition, you know, we don't have a crystal ball. We can't perfectly estimate what your costs are going to be. No one can. Um so, you know, that is going to create a range of estimated cost as well. Um and then in addition uh we evaluated three prescription benefit managers as part
065of that which uh as part of that evaluation is looking at contracts the prescriptions that are covered under those contracts um and then the services they can provide and that all can can greatly uh vary in in cost. Uh, and then finally, one thing I want to note, it was on the last slide, is as a self-funded employer, you need to purchase stop-loss insurance, which is basically insurance that caps how much you would pay per member on the plan. So, say you bought uh a policy that had $100,000. It's called specific deductible. You're responsible for up to $100,000 per member on the plan. After that, the insurance company starts covering those costs. That's a way to help mitigate large claims expenses. those premiums can vary significantly and you can't really get a quote being fully
066insured until you have really nine to 10 months of of claims data. So that happens later at the end of the year. So that can greatly fluctuate the estimated cost as well for for 2026. But um based on on our analysis and if you want to jump to Dan that's fine >> based on those differences in in plan cost you can just jump to the end actually. um district administration is recommending renewing uh with United Healthcare at that 11% increase with that option that we had discussed which is reducing the wellness funding increasing the ARX co-pays uh and then removing that nurse leaison position and then as we continue to talk about renewals for 27 early in the 2026 plan year continue to evaluate uh self-unding as a solution as well as continue to to
067market fully insured options as well. >> So, we don't have anything else. So, that's kind of a high level and we're open to any questions you guys have to help provide any more context around kind of what we shared. >> All right. Thank you. Um, board members, do we have any questions that we would like to ask? Yes, board member Becker. Thanks. Uh, I'm curious about our utilization of the nurse leaison. I think it's a reasonable recommendation, but I do want to understand the impact. show me I can talk about too. >> So um initially when we shifted to United Healthcare that was part of the package they offer when they bid and I think I think Lorenzo kind of summarize kind of the main objectives that are tasked with the nursely as in position.
068So it can range initially from helping people transition. So obviously when people were working with WA, you know, we're going to shift to a new provider. Is that drug covered? Is this doctor covered? There's questions and processes like that that are working through. I wouldn't say that's the case now as much because now we're under two years, but certainly the last year shifting from maybe a doctor at Ascension or Pro Health to Freigher, it's just a little bit of working through. So it's nice to have someone on the inside that can help kind of get your questions fasttracked. What I see more of, and I'll let Jessica come in, Joe maybe share more, is um the questions that get asked are like, you know, um this medication was denied. How do I appeal that? Or
069I'm seeking care for something. Can you help me find a couple local providers? I can't get into this one. Like access questions. Um certainly not something that we can't manage and help facilitate to, but that's what I see a lot of. I don't know if Jessica or y'all have any other things you want to share. >> No, I agree. >> Okay. She does go out to the schools, each school once a month, sits in the lounge or whatever, and then she's able to >> like people are able to come in and ask questions all day, but I'm not. >> Yeah, I'm sure that. >> So certainly not um you know, it it would be disruptive to a degree, but certainly something that we've considered and talked about a lot. So >> we're not running a
070ragged in other words. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah, I I agree. >> All right. Thank you. Other questions, board member Lee? >> So, moving from um the original 18% 11%, how much is that in total going to save the district? >> So, we we budgeted 15% as a renewal and so getting to 11 helps the budget uh about $180,000 in the greens. And if we're paying the 18% which was what it was without making these changes, it would be over the 200,000 that we're losing in the U funding for the increases or for the um you know on-site wellness and things like that. So that difference is more than that loss in that. Correct. >> Yeah. Essentially running at 18, you're going to we'd have two things. We'd have our budget for health insurance running
071about $138,000 in the red. The 18% would also hit all employees, right? Versus the 11. And then we may obviously you have other benefits that you've maintained, but yeah. >> Yep. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Another one. >> One other one. I the the tier caught my eye. I I think I mentioned you guys last time. I work at Medicare Advantage, so I do all the pricing and all that stuff. I'm curious if there's room for the tier one is the the lowest price. It's the generics, right? typically. Yeah. >> Okay. So, I just wonder if that's that's the kind of thing that somebody's going to notice when they go to that. Is there any way we can leave that one as is and crank it up on the tiers four or five
072or whichever one? I think uh ch uses five tiers or we can bump up the co insurance on those name brand and um the customized drugs rather than going after the generics. >> Yeah. So we have asked United Healthcare for other RX copay structures or cost share structures. Um really what you have today and the offer that's listed here are the two offers in the fully insured Nexus ACO plan designs that they have to offer right now. So know there are preventive medications for chronic conditions that are are covered uh at no cost and then in addition to that there are medications available in the clinic as well um that that are no cost to to employees. So but I understand not wanting to hit the member um that way as well as there are
073programs outside of insurance um as well that provide medications at a lower cost too outside the the plan. >> Okay. But it's a good question. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think I think it's a good point, Joe. I think one of the things that as we talked, we started at 23.9. I was talking with the finance committee about this too. And you know, this is before Chris and Lorenzo had worked with the I helped get to 18. The the question we had was, okay, so how do we get from 24 assuming that they wouldn't move at all? That was kind of the assumption. Like I going to go into it worst case scenario, they're not going to move. Okay, so how do you get it from 24 to 15? That was kind of in my head.
074And when I asked Chris Lorenzo like their perspective was you got three big buckets here. Number one, you got co- insurance. When any of our employees in a tier one network go to the doctor, assuming they've met the deductible, everything is covered at 100% minus the co-ay, right? That is when we talk about what makes our benefits rich here. That's it. Most districts you go around to, they don't have that. It's 80%. I think we were talking about a different district with 70. Some different plans. You guys can speak more broadly to that. The second one is going to be deductible which is going to hit everybody and the third one's prescription drugs. So we tried to go after our perspective I think as a team has been how do we keep this as affordable
075as possible with impacting the end user as much as little as possible. And so like co insurance that's everybody deductible that's a little less than everybody and drugs it's like the only other bucket we can go to. >> So I think that was the challenge. So I think some work we could do to your point Joe is to like look at what is the most used generic drugs, what are what do we offer at the clinic and try to figure out a way to like message that better so people start using that maybe. I mean but >> I was going to say it sounds like there are options. So let's you I imagine that's in the works like we're going to help people kind of figure it out if that's going to be a cost
076increase like what are the ways to to avoid it and >> more education on that topic if if we're going to >> if we're going to go that route. It's a difficult problem and I and I I share with my committee too. It's like even the education around you know what is co insurance and this is like where we're starting with a lot of people and I get it. It's a very difficult topic. Sometimes I get confused and I'm not calling them about it because I I don't always understand it. Right. And so >> um but trying to get our staff and then their dependents and their families engaged around what is and what it's not. Right. A lot of people I talk to don't even know what an out- of-pocket max is. they think
077that's what they're going to have to pay. It's not not that's not the case, right? So, trying to find space to do that and educate and I think it's best to do in person, but as you guys know, time with our staff is very hard to get. It's just busy and you know, it's just difficult. So, but something we need to work on. I agree. >> Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. Yes, board member Carr. I think it piggybacks a little bit off of Joe, but I want to talk about the GLP ones because they seem to be hot right now and it's a it's a big deal for um I think Americans in general. And so my question is um are there generic GLP ones? is our is the physician's assistant or um assistant
078that works at our clinic are they allowed to prescribe the GLP1s? >> So um as are so GLP1s let's just first break out the the difference again I mentioned earlier. So, >> yep. >> GOP1 specific for individual diet diabetes versus GOP ones that are purely weight loss in terms of >> I'm talking about the weight loss ones. >> So, the this so today healthcare fully does not cover GLP ones for weight loss. So, those are not >> okay covered under the plan today just for diet if you're diagnosed with diabetes. >> Okay. And as it relates to the the clinic providers um prescribing GLP1s, I I don't know the answer to that. I I would have to come back on that. >> Well, yeah. Which is moot because if it's not being covered by United,
079they're not going to >> Yeah. If somebody today wanted to get a GOP1 for weight loss, they'd either have to go direct to a manufacturer with a prescription um or they'd have to find another program like Row or I know there's out there. Yeah. >> Right. >> And there are options in the marketplace to go direct. Uh for instance, Lily Direct I believe is about 400 bucks a month >> for Zepbound. I believe that's their their drug. So um there are options out there. It is standard for fully insured uh programs to exclude GLP-1s for weight loss. And you're right, they are hot and we're talking about them constantly with every client and >> the vast vast majority of clients even in a self-funded world do not cover them because the cost is astronomical. Sure.
080>> And there's a lot to be determined yet as far as long-term effect. >> So, >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions? >> All right. Seeing none, thank you all for uh your work and everything that you're presenting here today. Um yeah, I think that that's that'll be it then. Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh that will bring us to the end of our meeting. If there's no other business and there is no objection, the meeting will be adjourned. There being no objection, meeting is adjourned.