MADISON – Wisconsin public school teachers should have benefits at least as good as those offered to part-time legislators, according to State Representative Andrew Hysell. This week, Representative Hysell announced plans to introduce legislation to require the Department of Employee Trust Funds (DETF) to study what it would take to move all state teachers into the same health plan offered to state employees, including legislators.
“Teaching at a public school is an honorable profession that deserves fair pay and benefits. It is fundamentally unfair for part-time legislators to enjoy the security of good health insurance while the teachers teaching their children, and grandchildren, are at risk for medical bankruptcy,” said Hysell.
A new website released earlier this week by the WEA Trust highlighted that the average teacher stands to lose at least 20% of their gross wages if they get sick. Based upon the self-reported school district data, some public-school employees have more than half of their gross wages at-risk for health care costs.
“Far too many public school employees are facing an economic crisis simply based upon a medical emergency or having a child,” explained Hysell. Hysell plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to require that DETF analyze the potential costs and savings of a new state group plan for public school teachers and employees, providing a roadmap for implementation.
“Teachers in the Columbus School District expect a staggering 31% of their gross salary to be on the line for health insurance costs,” said Hysell. “In the Shell Lake School District employees pay $20,000 towards family coverage, have family deductibles of $8,000 and a $10,000 maximum out-of-pocket limit. How is it fair to make teachers pay that much when legislators, as part-time state employees, pay a maximum of 10% of their gross income for health insurance costs?”
Providing quality health insurance for public school employees is not a new issue for Rep. Hysell. “In 2021, I collaborated on a report that explored how an opt-in state health insurance plan for school districts could help teachers get better insurance coverage while saving school districts money. According to the report, at that time, a move to the state employee health plan would have saved Sun Prairie Schools $2.5 million, Madison $1.9 million, Middleton-Cross Plains $1.4 million, and Oregon $1.2 million,” Hysell concluded. “I urge my colleagues to act now to help our teachers and public schools.”
