001Hey, we're going to stand for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Yeah, we're going to start with our consent agenda. We have the minutes from the prior meeting, the warrants, and I think there are no transformation contracts, no JB approvals, and no district agreements from Kyla to another. Any question on the warrants? I just had one um valuations northwest for the inventory of the school. I maybe my numbers wrong in my head. I thought it would be a little cheaper than that. >> No, the original one was like 46,000 and they dropped it down to 2,000. >> Was that what it was? >> Because the t Well,
002the tags were are were additional. >> Oh, okay. Okay. That's probably why I'm Yeah. I was just wondering like why I wasn't remember >> Yeah, it's it's not a big deal. It was just um yeah, I just I thought it was a cover. That's all. >> No problem. >> Any other questions on the boards? >> On the um copier over how often is that? That seems fairly large. >> This year it has been high. Um normally we've only had the machine for I think a year and a half, two years. >> Um we are starting to track all the copies per individual right now. Um, but what happens is every month we've cleared the total so that they could get their they're allowed 100 unlimited black and white 100 copy five copies per month. So
003when we clear the total for the color it clears all the totals but now we're just going to keep a staggered thing. >> So yeah because right now it's it's pretty expensive. >> Yeah. >> Do we have an option of upping your contract for more? >> This I just did I already opted up and that's >> what happened. >> Oh. So, we're going to keep tracking it and and actually to up it again is actually more expensive than paying the over. Yeah, I checked in. >> Wasn't that Didn't we approve that last year at some point? Like earlier in the year, I think it was a different contract that was less expensive. >> So, I can't imagine wasn't it was it was new printers or something. Remember exactly what it was, but we approved something
004last year and it was >> we buy a new copy. >> These are leased >> or leased. Yeah, we >> And I think it was less expensive than >> Yeah, it was. >> Yeah, by quite a bit. >> But this is turning out not to be >> Okay. >> So, we're going to have to keep an eye on all that. >> Okay. >> Um, it also needs to be partnered with probably a curriculum committee meeting. So, if we're far over what we thought we would be at, then it's likely curriculum that we've purchased are not being used like or something else. So, if we need to be making the snake copies, number one, we're going to know who's making them rather than sending out like just a informative email that we're over like we'll be
005able to have like these conversations um and start figuring out why and bring that out to a curriculum committee so we can reallocate funds in a different spot. >> Sure. mailing question. >> We'll take a motion to approve the consent agendas. >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Our reports and recognition reports to the leadership team. Congratulations. introduce me. Yes, I'm I'm Molly and Molly Boyd and I'm in eighth grade and this is my first year doing student leadership. I'm Riley English. I am sixth grade and this is my first student. >> Welcome. Thank you for being here. >> Um we're going to go over the high school guidelines for success. It Sorry. The pause stands for practice respect and act act
006responsible. Work hard in order and stay safe. >> Practice responsibles of practice respect is to always respect your teachers and peers, kind words to yourself and towards others and then act and act responsibly. Um, some examples of what that looks like is having integrity to think before you act. And yeah, um, some examples of our W, which is work hard and wonder is have an open mind, ask questions, and use your imagination and stay safe. Some of the um these examples of stay safe are stay with your buddy, safe hands, and walk on the platform. Um next, we're going to go over our our um whole school attention grabber, which is gripping five. stands for C stands for calm body open ears, understanding breathing on speaker and stops. >> And what are you guys supposed
007to do if some if an adult says food's getting fat? What do you physically do? We have to put our hand >> with your elbow above your >> um and then our school >> it's student bodies >> student Yeah. Our student body uh motto is it's um safe hands, kind words, superior pride. >> They're moving guys. >> Safe hand pride. >> Nice job. >> Love it. You guys have got any questions for them on that at all? No question. >> I think it's great. They just did a good job. >> I think the first graders been talking about coops all the time. So, >> mine too. >> She said give me five and I slapped her hands. No, that's not how we do it. >> Thank you, girl. >> She burned it up. So, that's
008good. >> They're so nervous. come to my room and practice and they still are nervous. >> All right. Our next section is for guests. Um members of the public are encouraged to comment during this time regarding items not listed on the agenda. The chair will speak will seek public comments on agenda items as they occur. By law, the board cannot take action on matters discussed during the public comment portion of the meeting, but may include a matter raised during this time on a future agenda. The board would like to remind everyone to avoid commenting on private personnel matters, private student matters, and pending legal matters. Please state your name before providing your guest comments. Do we have any guest comments today? >> Yes, Sharon. So, my name is Sharon Leech and at the MSEL conference
009in Helena, Amanda Chen was presented with the Marvin Hines Award for MTSBA in recognition of having earned the highest level of individual certification training in the MTSBA school board academy and it was presented in a room full of educators and board members. It was huge. So, congratulations Amanda is awesome. >> Thank you for bringing it home. So nice. >> Yeah. >> Any other comments? >> All right, we'll move on. >> Thank you. My voice is passed. >> Our first action item is the bridged health alliance commitment. And I believe we've John have John Doran. >> Yes. Thanks so much for having me and uh first of all, good job to the student representatives. They did a nice job presenting and congratulations on your MTSBA certification. Uh my name is John Doran. I'm with Bridge Health
010Alliance. We are the new trust that is starting as a result of House Bill 332 from the 2023 legislative session. And I won't bore you with all of the legislative details. Um, but the the legislation allows 150 plus school districts covering 12,000 plus employees from across Montana to come together and form a new health insurance trust. And once we are able to do that, then we are able to access the $40 million incentive payment from the legislature. This is a really big opportunity as you know um prior to the stars act passing this last session uh any invest in public education let alone $40 million to address typically the second biggest line item in most school district budgets and that's health insurance is a really big deal and a really historic opportunity. Um I just
011want to talk a little bit about Bridged and who we are and and how we think maybe we can help Kyla. um knowing especially that you haven't offered health insurance before and I think we might have some great solutions for you moving into the future. Um since last March I have driven about 29,000 miles across the state visiting with schools. Uh it's been uh just a wonderful labor of love to try and make this happen for public schools across the state. But the one thing we've really done more than anything is listen to schools. And we've adapted our model to create something that's never been done in Montana. And that is a two-tiered structure uh that really benefits both small schools and large schools. Um and so I'll just quickly talk about those two tiers.
012Um, I'll I'll start with tier two because I'm going to spend a little less time talking about that because it doesn't uh necessarily affect Kyla. But tier 2 is really designed for those large doubleA school districts and the large A school districts that are currently a self-funded model. And in this model, they get to take advantage of the size and scale of Bridge Health Alliance to drive down their administrative costs, but they still maintain their own reserves. They still pay their own claims and they still operate almost identically to how they do now in that they get to continue making their own decisions on their health care benefit structure, the prescription drugs they cover, etc. Um, but in tier one, this is where I think Kyla has a really unique opportunity. So, tier one is
013also a self-funded model. It's it's what's called a levelfunded model and it's a form of self-funding. And this is a really big benefit for schools in this tier because it's providing an opportunity that that you've never had before. Um, so the way that it works, and I know we sent over a cost proposal to Sharon, and hopefully you've been able to take a look at some of the different options that would be available through Bridged. Um, but the the amounts that you see in in those cost proposals are a monthly amount. Now, keep in mind that the totals that you see would be the total for the school district. So, what you would want to be able to do is have some discussions with the school district and figure out what, if any, can the
014school district contribute to that amount to offset the employee cost. And that's typically what happens around the state. Of course, when school districts have a health insurance plan, there's some sort of cost sharing mechanism or a contribution strategy that the employees and the district work out together to figure out how much the district is going to contribute. But in tier one of our model um we are essentially going to uh forecast what your total costs for the year are going to be and that's inclusive of all your expected claims both on medical and pharmacy and the very very small administrative expense for Bridged Health Alliance. One of the neat things in the legislation that they did was they actually capped our administrative expense at a very low threshold um much below what the traditional commercial
015market looks like for insurers. I'm here to tell you we're going to be about half that amount. Our administrative expense is going to be roughly 6%. We know every school district across the state has to operate in tight budgets. So why should we be any different? Um we are really here for one purpose and one purpose only and that's public schools. And I'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. But the annual cost broken down into 12 monthly payments is the maximum financial liability that your school district will receive in any given year. the so if if for some reason your school district has more claims than we expected, the trust protects you, you're you're not going to be required to to all of a sudden, you know, cough up uh the
016dollars for any overages and claims. But here's the big kicker. What happens if you have a better year than expected? So, if you use less claims than expected, Bridged Health Alliance is actually going to give the lion share of that surplus back to the school district in the form of administrative credits. So, let's just use a really simple math. Let's say that Kyla used $100,000 less than we essentially charged you. We would give you 60% of that value back. So $60,000 in the form of administrative credits over the next three years. And the reason we're choosing 60% to start is that we want to be extra conservative in managing this trust. You know, keeping in mind that those are taxpayer dollars of the 40 million investment and and ultimately school dollars that'll be contributing. Um,
017so that number could change in the future, but we just want to make sure we're doing everything possible to protect that trust. So, I don't know if you've ever heard of a health insurance money giving you money back when you have a good year, but that's the bridge difference. Um, we're really a pro-education anti-corporate model. All of our provider network, which is through allegiance benefit plan management from Missoula, so there's a 100% of the hospitals and 97% of the physicians in the network in Montana. And outside of Montana, if you happen to need care outside of our state, which happens from time to time, you can access the Sigma network, which is about the third largest provider network on the planet. Um, so we have very robust access. Our pharmacy plan is also with a
018great company that um we are essentially bringing to Montana and they have about 62,000 pharmacies across the state or excuse me across the country who are in their network including most if not all of the independent localarmacies in Montana and the model that they use is a really important model for those local independentarmacies. We actually worked with the Montana Family Pharmacy Foundation to to try and find a solution that not only worked for schools but worked for those localarmacies as well because we know those are the main street mom and pop shops on the corners and we want to help um support their business as well. Um so we're really excited um of course how the legislature works you know it didn't just say hey here's $40 million good luck they said if you validate
019the trust we will give you $40 million. So again, those validation thresholds are 150 school districts covering 12,000 employees. Um we've been offering cost proposals now for about three months. Uh as you can imagine, it's been a a very um laborious process to process all of these uh one by one by hand, but it's it's certainly been a very valuable experience and we're already well on our way to exceeding those thresholds. So we get schools committing every single day. Um, we actually just got Columbia Falls yesterday, which is a big one for us. Um, but we're really excited and I just want to um, thank you for the opportunity to give a very broad overview of Bridged and then answer any questions that you might have. >> I have one question. Um, you said that
020you give back 60% of the premium that was not used. Does that other 40% stay in the trust for Kila school or what happens to that 40%. >> Yeah. So that other 40% would stay in the trust. And and so here's kind of the the big difference maker as well. So that $40 million investment um puts us really really close to where we would need to be to have a healthy reserve. And and a healthy reserve is going to be an amount that our actuary and the actuary with the insurance commissioner's office uh determines. And so built into the statute is a provision that if after 10 years of operation, the reserves go beyond that amount, we actually have to pay back up to the $40 million. Well, I'm here to tell you, we don't
021want to pay back any of that money. We want to be able to hover our reserves right at that threshold and use any extra to come back to schools in the form of cost stabilization. That could be diffusing any increases. It could be paying for wellness programs for every employee across the state. It could be premium holidays. Um, but we're really focused on returning those dollars to schools in a beneficial way. So, that's another big difference. I mean, you know, there's a lot of health insurance companies right now and they do great work in the state, but any excess goes out of state. It goes to Chicago, it goes to Pittsburgh, it goes somewhere else with no benefit to Montana. All of our reserves stay here with public education and are only used in a
022way to benefit public education. >> Thanks. Um, one other question. If say we have a year that we have high claims, um, is there a maximum premium increase per year that you can increase our premium? >> Yes, there is. We're actually putting some very strict guard rails on that. So, um, for the first year, we are individually rating each school district on their own merits. Uh, and that's really important because we need to be precise with our pricing in year one to make sure that we get off on a stable footing. But moving into all renewals from there, so our first renewal, so going into year two of participation, it would be an entirely pulled adjustment. Every school would get the exact same adjustment. And that's where you can take advantage of the size and
023scale of Bridge Health Alliance to have more stability and more predictability. And then moving into year three, which would be the second renewal, we would have the poolled adjustment again. But then on the fringes, so keep in mind like maybe the top 10% of schools that are performing really, really well. So you know, for two years running, you've used less claims than expected and we continue to give you a surplus. Rather than continue that model, we would rather just drop your rates to where they need to be. So it could drop uh up to a maximum of 8% in that given year. On the flip side, if there are groups that are, you know, for two years running continually underperforming or their their claims are outpacing the premiums that we are collecting, then we would
024take that opportunity to make micro adjustments with those fringe groups as well and adjust them upward by a maximum of 8%. >> 8% each year and we're locked in at five years. So that's 8% for three years afterwards. >> No. So, so 8% would be the very maximum. And I I'll tell you exactly why our renewals and our trend is going to be much much lower. So by bringing schools together in solidarity, we are opening up some opportunities that simply don't exist for schools of any size across the state, let alone you know the largest doubleAs like Missoula buildings for example. And what we are doing is we are tying our provider reimbursement to a percent of Medicare. So, just a brief um lesson in hospital economics. Most hospitals will actually lose money on Medicaid
025patients. If they're really well-run hospitals, they might break even on Medicare patients, but the vast majority of their profits come from commercial health plans or employer sponsored plans like schools. Um and so what we are doing is um rather than being at the whim of the chargemaster, so and I'll use my my hands here, my little screen. So the hospital sets a price and in most circumstances the insurance companies will compete for the biggest discount off that price and that's great. That saves you money. But when the hospital use what's uses what's called a chargemaster, that's an arbitrary tool that they can use to adjust their rates upward at any point in time. When the hospital rates go up, you might have a great discount, but your rates continue to go up as well. What
026we are doing is we are tying reimbursement for inpatient and outpatient services to a specific percent of Medicare. So Medicare is basically the baseline cost across the country for all services. And Medicare assigns a value for those. What we're looking to do is assign our value at about 220 to 240% of Medicare, which is about 100% lower than the commercial market across the state. And furthermore, Medicare unit price, so again, the unit price is like the cost of a particular service. Medicare only goes up by a maximum of 3% every year. And if you compare that to the commercial market where it's between 8 and 20% every year, you can start to see that given the size and scale of of a pool this large and tying our percents to Medicare, our renewals are going
027to be extremely low. So that 8% I mentioned is again only for the fringes. So if you think of 10% of, you know, 150 schools, we're talking 15 of the top performers that can have their rates go down and 15% of the, you know, or 10% of the lower um performers where they could have their rates go up, but that's a maximum of 8%. It's not a given that it'll be 8%. It's just a maximum. I'm guessing that our trends will be much closer to 3 or 4%. >> One other question. Um, so if you guys pay a Medicare rate, does that mean that if our staff is going to say the hospital and are they responsible for the difference that you don't reimburse? >> No, that's an excellent question. So all of the hospitals
028are in contract right now. Um, and there is no balance billing for this. Um so it's very similar to like how uh your commercial market would u would interact uh in terms of the member has a cost and they don't get balanced build assuming that provider is in network. It's the very same model here. So um this is different than what's called a reference-based pricing model. uh ours is more a multiple of Medicare model and I know those are two technical terms but in the reference-based model what typically happens is uh an employer or a a third-party administrator will hire essentially attorneys and the attorneys will tell the providers what rate they're going to accept and a lot of times they will sue them to accept that rate in that model while the lawyers might
029be successful the hospital can then balance bill the member the difference and a balance bill is essentially the difference between what those lawyers negotiate uh the payment and what the actual charge is. That does not happen in this model. You are protected from the um the the balance billing as long as you go to an inetwork facility. >> So John, this is Sharon. I have a question. Um I did a census valleywide of um all the other schools premiums um and compared to ours but that was based on their current insurance companies and I know that a lot are going to go with bridge. So looking at premiums some are lower some were higher will their premiums come in more towards us or are we just a little bit well all of us are a
030little bit different because of this first year pricing >> yes all the schools are a little bit different for the first year pricing. So, you know, given that you don't have insurance currently, um we we basically have four different rating tools that we're able to use. Um and it's all based on what's called the credibility of a a school district. Um and the the more employees that you have in a health insurance plan, then the more credible that data becomes, which is another reason why bridge will be extremely predictable in terms of our renewals because of that size. So, in your instance, what we're able to do is utilize um not only kind of a market sweep of like the Affordable Care Act market pricing, but also using some AI tools um to to be
031able to come up with your rates. And so, some schools will have a little bit lower rates, some schools have a little bit higher rates, but that first year is all based on your specific data. And in looking at the premiums that we've quoted, I will tell you that you're you're right in the middle um of of where schools are across the state. And then rumor has it that um if and when this goes through that must will no longer exist. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Yeah. The the must board of directors uh has thrown their support behind bridged health alliance u and they've committed that when bridged is validated that must will disband. Now if for some reason Bridge Health Alliance is not successful in reaching those thresholds um then if a school
032district had already committed to participate in Bridge Health Alliance by signing the participation agreements those agreements would essentially become null and void because bridge did not formulate and did not launch and then must would stay in in existence and all of those schools would go back to whatever their current insurer is and look for their renewals this coming spring. But we're making great progress. We have, you know, as I mentioned earlier, we have schools committing every single day. Um we have released about 250 cost proposals across the state. Um we have about 120 more to do. Um and so we're really encouraged by the progress so far. >> And our new um deadline is December 19th. >> That's correct. And the reason we're asking for a December 19th deadline, um, and if that doesn't work
033for some reason, you know, we can we can work with you on on what deadline works. Um, but the reason we're asking for this so far in advance, and I know that's kind of atypical for health insurance. You know, typically you wouldn't start looking at a renewal until maybe a couple of months before your renewal date, but we want schools to know well in advance if bridge is formulating and launching or if for some reason we fell short of those marks. Um and and additionally, we need time to stand up the organization behind the scenes before our first effective date of July 1st, 2026. So, it'll just take a little time to make sure we are ready to rock and roll with full service on day one. >> One of our staff members had a
034question. >> Um, sure. >> I just was wondering, you had mentioned there was pharmacy involved in this. Are there options for vision and dental as well? Yes, absolutely. So, the pathway to validation under the law that was passed in 2023 only focuses on health insurance. So, that's the basis of our proposals right now. But, we've been working with a lot of different dental and vision companies as well as life, disability, voluntary programs, and all of those offerings will come very early in the new year after we validate. I will tell you there's a couple of different um products for vision and dental that we're offering. You're probably used to kind of the traditional network style um dental and vision products. Let's just use Delta Dental for example. They're a really good company. But what's happening
035across Montana in the country is that a lot of dentists and eye doctors are no longer participating with health insurance companies. And so if you have one of those programs and your local dentist is not participating, it makes it difficult to get into that office. So we we are going to provide that product, but we're also going to provide uh basically an open access product for both dental and vision. And this is essentially a an insurance product, but it's a reasonable and customary payment model for dentists and eye doctors. And and most dentists in Montana are readily accepting those. We essentially pay about 90% of the usual and customary pricing. In most of those instances, the dentists because they don't have to work with or be, you know, in uh in a a uh provider
036network, they're accepting those rates uh on the top. So, lots of different options coming uh and we will definitely have those with all of those products. We also are already seeing that um with size and scale of Bridge Health Alliance that we'll we'll be able to drive down the costs that most schools are paying for those products as well. Now, you can choose to join Bridged um dental, vision, etc. or you can choose not to. Um, you don't have to choose those products, but again, I think we'll have some very cost competitive products along those lines. >> For the stop loss, what's the threshold to when a claim would hit stop-loss? >> Yeah. So, each individual school district um has its own stop-loss pooling point. So, one of the other really big benefits of bridge
037is that we actually are are doubly insuring the entire trust. Um, so Bridge Health Alliance will take out one stop-loss policy. And if you if you're not familiar with stop-loss, and it sounds like you are, but those are really the the protection against those high-cost claims. And so, Bridge is taking out a specific stop-loss level of $600,000. And every school district has their own pooling point based on size. So, for example, Billings, the largest school district, their current stop-loss level is $350,000, I think. Um, for smaller schools like Kyla, it's a much much lower amount. And and how it really works for you is that your pooling amount is essentially the threshold for claims that we evaluate in your uh in your pricing. So in this model, Bridged pays all of the claims between the
038school district's pooling point and our specific stop-loss level of 600,000. Additionally, we actually for the first couple of years are going to have what's called an aggregate amount. So if all of the claims that come through Bridge Health Alliance are too high, we have protection against that as well versus just those individual claims. And the beauty here is that most school districts have a stop-loss carrier and that stop-loss carrier is not in Montana and their loss ratios are typically about 70% which means that you pay 100% of the premium and they pay out 70% of those costs and they keep 30%. that 30% goes to Pennsylvania or wherever and you never see it again. With bridged, if there are surpluses, they stay in Montana with public schools with bridged reserves and they continue to build
039up towards that level of we meet this level and give all of that back to school. So, it's a really big benefit. One thing I will say as well on on the major medical plans. So these are the these are the plans where yes you have a deductible um but you also have co-pays and the co-pay amounts which are listed uh in in that sheet that we sent around um you know those add up to the maximum out of pocket but they don't contribute to the deductible. But in those plans we have a $5 co-pay for all in-person behavioral health services. And this is a really big hallmark of Bridge Health Alliance. We want to make sure that cost is not a barrier to receiving mental wellness care because we know if your staff members
040can't be well then our kids can't be well. Additionally, we have built into all of your pricing tele medicine services. Um we have three different branches if you will of tele medicine. The first is your urgent care. It's what you would typically think of like the MD lives or TAD do and those. Um our company is actually uh called first stop but urgent care is one pathway. We also have a primary care tele medicine service and we also have a mental health tele medicine service and the co-pays for all of those tele medicine services is $0. So >> for those services so you pay nothing even if you have not met your deductible. >> Correct. Does that apply to pharmacy also, pharmacy benefit, or do you have to meet the deductible? >> Yeah, there's there's
041different deductibles for pharmacy, which you can see listed in the the 1,00 and $2,000 major medical plan. So, that CMM stands for comprehensive major medical. And then, of course, the HDHP is for those high deductible health plans. I will tell you that the f $3,400 high deductible health plan. We've made a pretty big switch in that and it's a a big benefit for schools. Right now it's listed at 70% co insurance which means that if you were to re you know when you reach your deductible amount of 3,400 that the plan pays 70% and the member pays 30% up to the maximum out of pocket. But we've changed that based on feedback to schools. So that 3,400 highdeductible health plan that you see, it is now a 100% co- insurance, meaning that you're responsible for
042all costs up to $3,400 and then that is the maximum. And so that could be a really attractive option for you guys knowing that you haven't had health insurance before. Um it is a little lower cost. Um then we of course have the $5,000 um high deductible health plan at 100% co insurance as well. So, a little higher out of pocket, but a little less every month. And those those uh costs are listed out in the cost proposal, too. So, I think just some really unique opportunities for you guys to consider. Again, from my perspective, not knowing what the district might be able to contribute to this type of plan, but I think it gives you an opportunity to um to offer health insurance, to join a trust that is going to be the most
043stable trust and the most stable platform for costs for schools um in the future. And uh it's just a really great opportunity to take advantage of the $40 million and returning those dollars back to public education where they belong. >> So could a district be dropped for low participation? >> Um no. So so the way that it works um and this is fairly typical amongst health insurance plans and and we're anything but typical but there are some things that um that you know are pretty standard across the board. Um, so, you know, being a small district like Kyla, um, we would certainly take a look at, you know, what other options your employees might have, whether that's spouse coverage. Um, there are lots of different things that, um, would give you other options to be
044covered outside of the school district. Um, typically we would look for 50% of the eligible people, so those that are actually eligible for health insurance taking that plan. But again, being such a small school, we we would certainly work with you to make sure that we're we're being here of service to you. Again, we're here for one purpose, and that's public education. >> I mean, we have school districts that have one employee and and we're providing them cost proposals as well. >> You probably know a few of them. >> Haven't had the option, John. So, it might take a couple of years to have people jump on board off of their spousal plan, I think, is where that question's coming from for our staff. >> Yeah, totally understand. >> Any other staff questions? board member
045questions something. >> I was a benefit administrator that year. >> John, you've given us a lot to think about um and talk about. Thank you so much for your time. >> Of course. Well, thanks for having me and if there's anything else you can think of after the fact, um you know how to reach me. Um we are here for for schools and here to answer any questions you might have. So, thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Have a great night. >> You too. >> Okay. So, before the board is whether or not to sign on to bridged health alliance with >> the hard thing for us is not knowing if there's any um desire by our employees to participate. I'm assuming >> that that's one of the things and the other thing I
046have is what is the alternative? So, currently we offer a stipen, >> right? >> That's um so I think as a board we're kind of trying to figure out um can we offer a stipen but then also offer health insurance you would have the choice, right? >> That would be a perfect scenario like you can get your health insurance stipened and then if you choose health insurance obviously that stipen would go towards health insurance, >> right? And we legally offer both. >> Oh yeah. How the past in the past what it used to be is the dis the employees got a stipent and it could go towards health insurance or annuity. >> And so most did if they had health insurance they just went to annuity. And then it changed. So they found they could
047actually at the time get health insurance cheaper on the exchange. >> And so um what happened was they bargained out the health insurance. And so it was annuity or cash in your paycheck. And then the exchange started getting expensive and getting expensive. And then so people started going without health insurance. And so what the idea with this is is nobody will lose anything. All you're doing is adding a third option. You have a stipend that's an umbrella. And right now you can either take it as cash and go do whatever you want with it. You can take it as an annuity, put it into retirement, or you could put it towards your health, put towards a health insurance plan. >> So then, if I'm understanding correctly, in in John's vernacular, that would basically be the
048school's contribution to lowering the deductible of the plan. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry, wrong term. And that's what all basically all but two districts um who had negotiated a percent. Um everybody else just has a flat stipen and you can do with it what you want. And I think I sent out that last one that shows what certain districts are contributing right now. And we're a little low on some areas. We're higher than another school. Um but yeah, all it is doing is nobody would lose anything. They're just getting another option. And this option is also tax deferred whereas if you take it in cash it is not annoying is cash deferred as well or tax deferred as well. >> So several questions on this. So it's talking he was talking about multiple
049tiers and without having the the what all the initials mean and everything. Um it it's it sounds like there's multiple plans with multiple different deductibles and such. Is it an offer where it's we as the district say it's this plan, you decide whether you want it or do the staff get to choose amongst all of those based on the pricing. >> I I honestly don't know a black and white answer for that. I just know the proposal he gave us with all the different plans that were available. So it's not like two people can choose this plan, one person can choose this plan, one person can choose this plan. Or is it you have to pick one and that's what your district's going? >> That's what we don't know. >> That's what you're trying. >>
050You don't have to pick one. >> You can, but you don't have to pick all 15 either, right? So as a team, we could have a work session. >> Here's the three or four top choices. >> That's what we would like to come back and bridged with. Okay. But it's not like a staff is going to get a selection of all 15 and they all choose which one they want. >> Got it. >> Um 240% of Medicare is huge in this valley. So we were trying to um get a contract with Logan and we were hoping to get 275% of Medicare. So to hear that this plan is going to be between 220 and 240 is amazing. >> Mhm. We have lost three candidates since in my 42 because we have not had the option
051to offer this. So my recommendation would be go back to legal see what we can offer in a negotiation setting. Come to our next board meeting with an answer because you don't have to decide. We have another meeting on 10th. >> The 19th is when they want an answer by. So, >> and we're in a weird spot because we used to offer it. We don't now >> legally. What can I go back to? Is it all or nothing? And what should that language look like before we start trying to figure this out? >> Well, we can offer to our um classified how to say I would like to say pairs, but I know that excludes some very important people, so I apologize. um we can we don't have to negotiate to offer. There is something
052very weird and I can't remember exactly what it is which is why I am really hoping that we can go back to legal and just get a solid answer between can you do both do you have to pick one or you talk about the statement and the health I that's why I am 90% sure you cannot offer 90% of schools in the district do >> my company does my oper we were able to choose the three options >> towards health insurance towards a 403 or cash. Yeah. >> Our company says you can wave it, you get cash, you can put it towards whatever you >> some like Evergreen says you can take the health insurance or nothing. Um and the stipen your your cash will go towards that. Other districts are being more where they're
053more like us, you know, it's like you'll get this amount. What you choose to do with it is yours. Um it's just a matter of how you want your taxes. you can be taxed defic. So um >> other districts just offer health insurance. Capital being one of them and I sat in this was my job. So I was you at the school district. It is different for schools than in the public marketplace. And it is very different going from having insurance to then offering a stipen to people that don't take your insurance. Having a stipend and going to having an insurance >> and then blending all of that together. It's sort of like we don't offer a bus route right now, so we don't have to provide transportation for certain things. If we had a
054bus route and took it away, that would be a much bigger conversation and deal. >> Are there any other companies doing something like this or is this an organization that's being stood up basically because of the legislation and this is the only one that's doing? This is the legislation and this is because public school workers are the only public service employees in the state of Montana that are not on state health insurance. This was their solution to that problem. >> Okay. Okay. >> I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a competitor that like wasn't better or worse or whatever. And I didn't pass. >> The closest company they had have is Must Montana Unified School Trust and that would be dissolved. >> Yep. And that's I I caught that. So this what this would
055be taking over for mustard or whatever resolve if this were to come to. So assuming that the attorneys say yes, you can do what you're what you're wanting to do, it would be very beneficial to see here's what we're recommending and here's what the cost would be to the district, to the employees, all that. Those sideby-side comparisons. >> So if if we can do both, I honestly don't know why you wouldn't. So certified aside like >> to just have that opportunity to offer that to people. If certified says no or whatever it may happen, there's a whole other group of people that we can. And I don't know why we wouldn't if we can do both either or or have all three, >> especially in the event that the ACA premiums skyrocket like they anticipate
056being. Absolutely. Well, and there are districts in the school in the state state of Montana two years ago that got a 34% increase. So being locked in at 8% is gigantic. >> Yeah. >> So we're locked in for 5 years, but to only have an 8% increase is huge. >> Pretty amazing. >> That's a maximum of three years in a row because year two wouldn't have an increase, >> right? And then you wouldn't have that >> if our premium came back in years for year six and they're You just say no thank you. >> So you don't think like that where you put that little star and it says the premium for like the lowest amount for one person for one month is 778. Is that correct? >> Probably. >> You let me tell you
057what the other school districts pay. people are not used to >> that to me seems really high, >> right? >> For me and the income that I make because you have to remember like I'm still only at like year six even though I've been here forever. That is a huge amount of money for me. $700 a month when I barely use >> as classified staff. I would to put my family on that plan. It would take my entire monthly paycheck. >> Yeah. I do then a lot. >> I can tell you how it was when we had health insurance >> because >> our health insurance plans were about $500 and at the time the district would in about 300. So then the employee would be responsible for the 200. So if you if you choose
058to go health insurance, you can either pay flat out or you could take your stipend and apply it to it. So you'd be paying about 200 out of pocket. So, no, but you're not understanding right now. I just don't have insurance and it's because my I use the siphon to put into my annuity. It's basically a wage that I'm saving and saving into my retirement. >> You could still do that. >> Then that goes away. Then >> you don't get >> So, I take my cash benefit and I put it into my retirement plan and I go without insurance because I very rarely I don't go to the doctor. >> And that's what we're saying. that's going to be at this work session is what we're hoping is still an option. >> So, >> but
059either it's an either or still. You don't still get the annuity to put away or take as cash. You have to choose either to take that as cash or to take the annuity or to get the insurance. Right. >> All you're doing is adding an option. >> Yeah. >> We're trying to not take that option that that you that you exercise. We're trying to not take that option away from you. which I know that give the option to other people. >> I'm just saying that it's still to me taking away an income. >> How? Because I'm saving my my annuity my it goes to my retirement. I'll get it back someday. >> You would still be have the option to do that. >> Yeah. But then I wouldn't have insurance now. >> Correct. >> Right.
060Yeah. That's kind of my point. others that wanted that opportunity to take that would have were adding a third option rather than 72. >> Yeah. So, what I'm saying is I'm out because I'd rather have it go to my retirement than to pay out and have no retirement savings like adding to my retirement every single month >> plus paying $700 something because >> I mean we're all going to have our own situations and we just need to decide what the structure is going to be or be offered at >> the KTA can go back and discuss what that would look like for >> the KTA and what you would want to negotiate. Um >> yeah, I think uh we'll have a work session with um classified certified administration board. Figure out what plans maybe have
061a bronze, gold, silver like they usually have. Um get a hold of legal, find out your options, things like that. Then so yeah, >> I don't know if this is helpful, but my husband and I just signed up for his insurance for a year and it was 950 for the two of us. So and that's through >> so that's where you have the work session because are you offered free teleaalth free behavioral health online all those things >> that's very similar through >> and that's very fortunate that lower premium but I know my husband's is 2,000 a month. >> Yeah. >> My family of five is almost $3,000. >> Yeah. See and we're only two. So I just thought throwing out a number there to kind of let you know we're two people. We have
062pretty good insurance. So that's more than the 778 that you had here. So just just throwing you a ballark. >> I think I think I'm comfortable tableling this. So >> I think insurance too. I'm gonna hold for a second. I want to make sure that our staff understands that step number Tikica I want to make sure our staff understands that step number two is we're going to have a work session because this was more for your board to sit down here firsthand. >> Um I just want to say like starting to learn. So we don't >> we don't know when we're going to get there but this is step one. What we're not going to do is sit here poo poo on it. We're going to take a breath. We're going to have a work
063session as a team because we work really well as a team. So I will take a motion to take more. Did I get a second on that? >> I will second. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. >> Definitely a work session. >> Yeah. >> Um do I hire para? Are we a go of that? Um, and are we sending background checks? >> I got a verbal from the county exam. It's in the mail. >> Okay. So, that means speak about Miss um interviewed to Paris uh yesterday. There are applicants and the committee unanimously chose Emily Widner Weidman to fill that role. Fantastic references. Um, I make a motion to hire and leave right there. >> Second. >> All in favor? Any opposed? >> All right. So, we do have to consider an
064out of district student out of district to coming to the student is in seventh grade. Is that correct? All right. And because we are a numbersbased decision-making body here, our current seventh grade inclass total is 26. Our state max is 30. That means according to our strategic plan, we would cap at 28 out of district. So the smoke is at 27, but not to like streamline it. If there's any questions, >> is it a girl? a motion to approve the um out of district attendance agreement. >> I'll make a motion to approve the out of this case. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? Any opposes? >> All right, we're moving on to midyear district agreement and I believe that's page 47 of your packet. ones. All right. Are we trying to update the form
065for mid year? >> I thought we just updated this one. >> Well, this had to do with at the last board meeting. I think there might have been a little confusion that we were not going to take mid year at the district and this was just to clarify that if we have room and Liz did all the checks and stuff um then it would be a board decision. So we went ahead and accept them mid year. >> I think we just did we did but we're going to clarify it. >> We're gonna do an actual first order on that one. It's my fault. I'll label those. What do you >> I think it's always good for our school to um be open and willing to accepting your students. I think >> especially these higher grades.
066>> So we need a motion to accept. >> Was this form amended? The line that says mid year. >> No, that is to clarify the >> Oh, no. This is dated >> so you know what we're talking about. This is the form that we've been using >> and we have this year language on it. >> Yeah, >> I do want to make sure that we put policy 3141 on our policy committee meeting because it literally says like date parenthesis and optional. So throw that on the blanks. Yeah, that's okay. >> So, if we're just in line with what we've been doing, I don't think The emergency procedures manual needs to be table. Oh, do you need me to get a motion to strike? I'm sorry. I'm doing that. Can I get a motion to strike
067the mist? >> I will make the motion to strike the midyear out of district agreements. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Still waiting for her to make >> I know that's what I'm motions make now. the emergency procedures manual is being worked on and I hear the conversations are excellent, but I also understand there's nothing to present to the board. So, we need the tape for >> it's it's so large in the scope was we we want to get it right, make sure it's right. >> Um, so it's been we need another meeting >> to the point where we're to reach out with what we have so far and just get feedback from fire department, from law enforcement and we're not guidance on that. >> I'll get a motion to
068table of the emergency procedures. >> Good job. >> Thanks. >> I'll second. All >> in favor? >> I'm telling you what took us took me a minute. a resolution calling for May 8 by 2026 school. >> So they did some major electron law changes in the legislative. Um it used to be you could do um do nomination forms from uh December to spring break. Now it is December 3rd. So they shortened it to match some of our laws like that. So beginning um December 11th, nomination funds for trustees um will be available if the district should choose to run any levies. This covers that as well. um should the election be cancelled. Um it'll let the election administrator me cancel it. Um so this had to be processed before um the 11th of December. That
069was the deadline date and I just thought November would be the safest do it standard form. It's literally a drop down you fill in your district. The um the election judges are provided by the county election department. So, and they will be conducting elections if we choose to have lunch. >> And for the community, they no longer turn in ballots here. They have to go to >> correct place to turn them in to vote. >> Yeah. Because if they wanted to turn them in here, then they have to go into a lock box. You have to have two people escort them to the I mean, it's Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And people honestly trust the election department more than they trust the small school during their district. If you're going to run an RV to
070be honest, >> sure. So >> I think it's overall good thing >> and we fought years for them to do it. >> Yeah. >> So take advantage of it. Absolutely. >> So I will take a motion to accept the resolution calling for a May 5th 26 school election. >> I will make a motion. >> I will second. >> All in favor? I. Any opposed? business manager and notary. So many questions about why do we care what they're doing? >> So our um I've always been a notary for the school and the history was we needed a notary for immunization um exemptions and so we would notoriize for that. Um, and then we had to notoriize for election judges. Um, and then the law has changed where you no longer need a notary for immunization exemptions.
071They just changed the law. You no longer need a notary for title transfers. Um, it's about $300 for three years. The advantage you do have with a notary is that it's a community service for anything that they may need. And then if we wanted to do verification of residency for other districts, I can notoriize a landlord's statement >> or district >> or ind in districts. So it's kind of up to the district um if they want me to renew for another three years. Um it doesn't bother me. I just take a test, but it does cost up $100. You want to continue the community and I know the community likes it. Is that Sharon winning us? >> That's what I heard. >> I get a motion of this manager and not stick around for years.
072>> Well, my notaries for three years. That's probably I'll make a motion. >> This is manager and not a second. >> I almost got it. >> All in favor? >> Everybody here refuse the commitment. It's recorded. >> Oh, shoot. >> Have eyewitnesses are going to the back. >> Hope your husband is not watching. >> He's practic. We have the Montana school for conducting the blind mu. Um, so this is a service that's an extension. It's not something that's provided through the special ed. This is similar to that. probably don't pay fees to them, but this is sort of just outlining who's responsible for what piece. Um and it would be my recommendation to sign you have student a for your signature. Well, you don't currently know. >> We're just going to scratch it and write
073myself in. You want to sign it? >> I love that. I didn't feel I should be entering into it before I get a contract with a third party. Okay. >> Motion to accept the Montana school for the death of the blind off. I will make a motion to accept the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind MLOU. >> All second. >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Sorry, I should have. >> Okay, we're moving on to our information items. Followup discussion memory items and spacings agreement is that we have >> All right. So, I have been chosen to present to you how are you? Um what the KTA discussed and I'll kind of just summarize these and then I can open up for questions that you guys have. So there was two twous that
074were presented to the KTA. The first one being um there was some items on there about our part-time employees um from the last year and this year but specifically for this year um we in general and I'll talk about the change to that. We had no problem with that. The other part we were hoping to table until negotiations cuz it was all negotiation language. It was that would become next year anyway. It was all 26 27 years. So as a KTA, we weren't saying we're against any of it. We just said we'd like to include that in negotiations during our normal negotiation period. Um if if so that was so there was a memorandum or a I guess we did draft to things saying like we kind we we're okay with the first part. It's
075those later things that we'd like to just include with um regular negotiations. So stuff so on the bottom the parties of you know agree to the following language the sick leave the sick leave the personal leave that would all be next year anyway. So just including that into our normal negotiations >> and that was voted and by all KTA members and a majority chose to include that. >> So the KTA is choosing not to sign this memorandum of understanding and would like to just include it in negotiations. those four bottom portions. We did do an addendum. The part about the employee and what um so I'll read it right off. Um the part of the CBA shall be waved for all part-time certified staff for the 2526 school year. If the certified staff member is
076able to attend early out meetings, PR hours will be credited to that staff members. We were good with that. We did modify it a little bit because as teachers, we actually said we would like them here, not like it be an option. We we changed it that said um the part-time certified staff member must attend early out meetings. We did put in person or digitally being like Zoom, we would like them there because we did see that it benefits us to have that person there. And actually, for what it's worth, the employee that this has to do with did vote yes for it. So it was not like so that was the only part we actually said we would like you to either hear in person or digitally to be a part of those discussions
077and then the rest of it we were just hoping that we could table for negotiations on that one. >> Okay. So the KDA has a memorandum of understanding that we can put on the agenda for >> yes and actually the president >> so we could put that on there and that's okay for your guys' review. We'll share this one before December. >> Is there any questions about that and then I'll move on to the next one. But figure just do one at a time. >> I would like to comment on that. I would really like everyone who's part of that and since there's so many key team members here and most of them heard if negotiations are not wrapped up then by the time contracts are to be issued need to sign another for the
078following school year. >> I know it tends to hold us up because we keep getting our budget over. >> Well, but this would be held up. That's part of the reason for putting it in anou is so you would not have to have your contracts be held up or not be offered one that you might want at part time. The the other umou was was the um unforeseen circumstances of some staff members working outside of their duties during the summer primarily for the hiring committee. Just so I make sure I'm clear what one I'm talking about. Yeah. >> Um so when we had this discussion, it it really came down to many of us work outside of our contract hours. like there's a lot of working outside of the contract hours and we did have
079like there was the eaches of well who's going to get paid and why you know why and it just really got kind of complicated to be honest with you and we didn't want it to be like this big thing that we're trying to figure out. We're going back and forth. So we just decided that we didn't want to be paid for the work that we were doing. Most of us that did it, me included, were happy to do it. It's fine. So, it was just that there was a lot of things where where people were saying, "Well, you know, we did this and this and it just really kind of muddled the waters, I guess, of what we were getting paid to do and what we were getting paid not to and what was what
080was deemed fair through the KTA KTA and what wasn't. So, we just kind of decided we all voted and it was like we all voted to say no, it's just not something we're interested in or not. It wasn't unanimous, but it was a majority." So, is this something that you're going to discuss for negotiations next year then? >> Is this just something? >> Well, I think if there's a discussion, there's there's definitely going to be discussions. I mean, I'll be honest, like some of the comments that came up were that is more money like that money that we were going to get paid for for doing this job was more than some of our employees get paid as stipens and stuff outside of school. So, like we were getting paid more to sit in here
081and do a which we love to do, right? To do a um hiring committee than some people were getting paid to do other jobs. And so that was a concern, right? Like when you're getting paid more to do that, which is great, but then we really need to look at well, are we underpaying people to do jobs that are being done? So I think it's that bigger picture and I think that's what this discussion we have that it takes a bigger picture for those that are running after school programs for those that are doing things like that or summer programs after you know like that pay ended up being more than that and so that was the concern. So, I I think it it could be something worth looking at for sure. But if we're
082willing to pay that for them, then we should be, you know, we're we're paying certified teachers in the summer less than that to run a summer program, for instance, when we figured it out. So, that there was some concerns and that wasn't the only concern. And I'm just bringing one that was up, but there was some interesting. >> I just want to be clear. You're standing before your board saying you don't want to get paid for work you are asked to do. Yes. And we want to pay. >> Yes. >> And you guys are all good with that. >> Yeah. We voted in approval of that the majority of the KTA just because of we we do think that that's a bigger issue. Like we think that if we're gonna we're gonna get paid that
083kind of money and that's that we need to look at it as a whole and say we probably should be paying some other people's, you know, and we're just we're just kind of standing together on that saying that we need to look at probably that as a whole >> same thing for negotiation. >> For sure. I I think we can talk about that negotiations, right? It's kind of that same thing that they can kind of look at how we're paying people outside of their work at school during negotiations for sure, but maybe for more than just this situation, right? This is just one situation that people were working. >> Thanks, man. >> Yep. I'm desperately looking for that. So part of the YBGR contract, we had an addendum written in that they are required to
084give us a quarterly update. The point of the quarterly update is just because when we had all this uproar with YBGR and we found out that as a board we're pretty separated from YBGR students. when you tend to say like, hey, I teach, you know, first grade, there's an understanding of what that means or I'm your administrator, you at least have some level of understanding of what that means. When you talk about YBGR, I think unless you yourself have gone through a program like that or you have a student or maybe a loved one that's gone through a program like that, you get pretty disconnected from maybe what that means. Um, the two girls, Linda and it's terrible, but there were two very lovely humans that used to work for YBGR that would come and
085provide this update. They no longer work for the company. Um, so Ashley and Chassity were willing to just put together an email update. I didn't think there was here. I thought as long as we had some information on rating and then if there's more information like in the future, I know they'd be happy to provide that. This just kind of always keeps the door with the knowledge that there is somewhere to provide for our students. >> We learned that we had basically no insight into the program and that we should probably have some insight into the program. So that's why we're getting a full update now. >> That was provided in your board. Any questions regarding the YBGR services? We're going to move on to our principal. Our tech No joke. >> Technology hates me.
086>> Um, okay. So, >> we're going to start with the parent teacher conference review. Um, we had, and this is just of the people that came on parent teacher conference day or that I'm aware of outside of our parent teacher conference day. I'm sure there are a couple I've missed because I do know people have been having some that I'm just not aware of. I didn't track those, but I'm aware there's a couple. Um, and then we really strive to get all of our K5s and then 68 becomes more on an as needed basis or for our new families. So, it is not alarming to me that it's so much less because that's kind of how it's structured. So, um, really good attendance in my opinion and I know there's lots of continued communication right
087now. Um, our conferences are well supported with data. So when we have our benchmarking tests, we have info from last year's score reports and then most of the teachers come with some individual classroom benchmarks to where those kids should be at now or have some really amazing student work samples to share. Lots of positives. Um I heard some really difficult conversations be had and difficult things be brought up and then some really good conversation that stemmed from them. I tried to be in at least one conference for every single class and I made it to all but one. Um and uh for 48 potentially looking at an option of student le. So I know some parents come to talk to teachers but having it be an option. So if our mostly for our 68 students
088um because they sit in one room and have one big conference if you want with all teachers mostly the opportunity to have individual teachers is there but for those that aren't new or aren't a requested conference. It would still be really neat for those middle schoolers or four fives to be able to be present, have some things they're proud of and show it off to their parents in their own conference. um is some conversation that we're going to have soon. Um next was title math night. So that happened yesterday. Amy led that. Um partnered with Mary >> um and we had 13 students of families served. So um it was I thought it was a great turnout for our work. I know some were hoping for more, but I thought it was very wellreceived. People
089were having fun and the kids were actually having the most fun. So, there were tears um of someone who had to leave early. There were sympathy tears for that, someone who had to leave. >> And then our middle schoolers actually elected to stay the whole time. Um some had the opportunity to leave early and wanted to stay. It did turn into a bit of a title science night because the northern lights were out and it was really neat. >> Yeah, that was cool. >> Um >> but it felt very um free and fun and people were able to kind of do what they wanted and travel throughout. But those are some of the games that were played and um lots of reflective conversations about doing this in the future. So hopefully we'll have three of
090these per year. Um, and I think partnering it with food is the biggest feedback. >> That was the biggest feedback over >> dinner time or the last minute. Um, but lots of kids talking about it throughout the day and knew that