Back on the table

As health insurance costs are expected to continue to climb, the Medford Area Public School District will explore alternatives including self insurance.

At the February 24 school district finance meeting, district administrator Laura Lundy laid out a plan to create an insurance committee with school board members, staff and administration to look at options. At the same time, the district’s insurance broker will be going out for bids for traditional insurance plans for 2026.

In May and June, the committee will review the options with the goal of making a recommendation to the full board in August or September with action by the end of September.

Finance committee chairman Brian Hallgren said his concern is with the timing. He said going out on bids now will have only a half year of claims. He said vendors would likely not be willing to give firm bids on self funding until November 1. Committee member John Zuleger suggested the district talk with businesses that are diversified across the

See MEDFORD on page 4 state such as Schierl Tire which are self insured. He noted Nicolet Bank is also self insured with employees across the state. One of the things that sets Medford apart from many other Wisconsin schools is that with the RVA, there are school district employees based around the state, rather than being all within one community. This can present challenges when going with a self-funded insurance setup that utilizes local direct pay clinics.

“My biggest fear with self funding is when it goes off the track,” Hallgren said. He noted that in a business, the employer has to come up with the money to pay the difference if things go bad with a self-funded system. He questioned where a school district would come up with the money. “What are we doing? Borrowing money and draining the fund balance?” Hallgren asked, giving worst case scenario.

He said he would like to talk to schools who are doing self funding insurance. Greendale School District, a suburban Milwaukee district, has been self-insured for years and has been able to increase teacher pay while keeping premiums low. Hallgren said he would be want to know what is excluded from their plan.

Committee member Steve Deml asked if it was possible to have a combination of both plans. “No,” replied finance director Audra Brooks.

Hallgren said the committee also needs to look at the health savings accounts (HSA) as part of the mix and the potential of capping or reducing it at a means to save on health insurance costs.

Board president Dave Fleegel said at the recent school board convention, the attendees heard enough positives that he felt they should look at it again.

Zuleger said it would be foolish to not look at self insurance regardless of it is risky or not. “We are not on a sustainable path,” he said.

Elementary remodel

The library at the Medford Area Elementary School will get smaller in return for adding much needed space for special education classrooms.

Members of the finance committee (and the full board later that night) voted to approve spending $178,520 for Huotari Construction to carve five classroom spaces in the elementary library.

According to elementary principal Dan Miller, this would involve walling off from the existing pillars in the room and utilizing an existing door as a hallway to access from the third grade and second grade hallways. He said the same number, or close to the same amount, of shelving will remain in the library space, with the reduction in open space in the library.

“There is quite a lot of library left,” Miller said. “We are not taking over the library.”

Miller compared it to the remodeling that took place at Stetsonville Elementary School where library common space was converted into office spaces for remediation and special education activities.

At MAES, the district would see a total gain of six additional spaces since one of the rooms would be split in half. The project will be done this summer with the money to come from the district’s Fund 46 savings account. Fund 46 was created five years ago for the district to set aside money for future maintenance and improvement projects.

There will be additional cost for furnishings for the project. The amount approved is just for the work to be done.

In other business, committee members:

• Received an update on the budget process. As of right now, Brooks said they are in the preliminary stage and it still is showing a $490,000 deficit on a $39.5 million budget. The school district budget is heavily impacted by the success of the Rural Virtual Academy. Brooks noted that $10 million of the $11 million in open enrollment dollars for the district comes from the RVA in addition to getting 6% of the RVA budget for administrative expenses for the RVA. As the RVA grows, the amount of revenue for the Medford School District likewise grows.

• Received an update on the food service contract process. According to Brooks, the Department of Public Instruction approved the request for proposals from the school district which will then be released in the first week of March to all approved vendors in the state. She said vendors will have an opportunity to tour the school facility and submit questions. Brooks said answers to any questions would be provided to all the vendors. The district is on track to have a bid for approval before the current contract expires at the end of June.