Single plan for all? — School board chair not crazy about possible state insurance mandate
Wyoming’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration mandated that the Wyoming School Boards Association Insurance Trust, the Wyoming Educators’ Benefit Trust and other groups that districts use for employee health insurance testify at an upcoming meeting, Weston County School District No. 1 board Chair Dana Mann-Tavegia told the News Letter Journal. Mann-Tavegia is also on the WEBT board.
“Numerous times over the last decade a few legislators have suggested that all school districts be forced to use the Wyoming Employees’ and Officials’ Group Insurance plan,” Mann-Tavegia told the NLJ. “Instead of allowing us to shop around and get the best policy at the best price, we would be forced to buy that group’s plan.”
The committee meeting will include discussion of mandating that all school districts use the WY EGI plan, according to Mann-Tavegia.
She said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming also plans to attend.
“I assume the committee will be asking them about how much districts are paying them, possibly asking them to compare benefits, but I am just guessing,” she said.
Superintendent Brad LaCroix said at the Sept. 10 Newcastle school board meeting that for about 30 years, a single state plan for all state employees has been discussed, despite being “not realistic and more expensive.”
“Why does that horse keep coming back out of the stable dead?” he said.
Mann-Tavegia said that the Wyoming Education Association and certain school districts drove the creation of the Wyoming Educators’ Benefit Trust.
This time, according to Mann-Tavegia, a group of legislators is upset that the Wyoming Educators Association is pushing back against the state of Wyoming and has “taken to task what are shown to be, by the courts, unconstitutional statutes.”
“I think they see it as a way to punish WEA, when in fact, half of the school districts in the state get their insurance from WEBT, plus numerous cities, towns and counties,” she said.
She told the NLJ that the city of Newcastle, Weston County, WCSD No. 7 and the Weston County Solid Waste District also use WEBT for their employees’ insurance.
Mann-Tavegia said at the meeting that she believes Employees Group Insurance and WEBT’s plan are more financially sound than the state employees’ WY EGI plan.
“They have had better benefits, and they cost less, but I think that there are some legislators who would like to see the money going to those organizations all be put into the one state employees group plan — the one that has not been managed the best, for sure,” she said.
She said a board that had representation from “all over the state” had overseen the plan, but that board was disbanded and a manager was hired instead.
“They have talked about it during recalibration for probably 20 years,” she said. “There’s always someone who’s saying, ‘Well let’s just force everybody to be in that one plan.’ And that doesn’t save them money or make staff happier at all, so hopefully we can talk them out of that route.”
Rep. Scott Heiner, who co-chairs the 2025 Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration, said that on Sept. 5, the committee heard testimony from all the insurance options Wyoming school districts are currently using. So far in the recalibration process, the committee has focused on fact-finding and receiving testimony from “the various entities and the public” so it can make informed decisions at its next meetings.
“No decisions have been formalized at this point by the committee on any of these issues,” he said. “The recalibration process is very complex and has far reaching consequences. We, as a committee, are taking this responsibility very seriously and are putting in the time to get all the facts at this point.”