District approves employee health insurance

CLINTONVILLE – Employees of the Clintonville School District will have the choice between a broad and a focused health insurance plan for the 2025-26 school year.
The Clintonville Board of Education approved a health insurance plan at its May 12 meeting, that will give district employees the option to choose between a broad and a focused health insurance plan. Both plans will have a higher deductible amount than the current deductible. The insurance premium will also increase 10%-13.4%, depending on which plan is chosen. The board passed the insurance plan on a 6-1 vote. Board member Mark Zachow voted no.
During the discussion, Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn told the board that the district would be able to offer a choice of multiple health insurance plans to its employees.
Kuhn told the board that some employees had communicated to him that if the district offered a focused health insurance plan, that they hoped the district would continue to offer a broad insurance plan.

Four options were presented to the board:

• Option 1 called for the district offer a Robin Broad Plan and a Robin Focused Plan. The broad plan would include a $5,000 deductible for a single plan and a $10,000 deductible for a family plan. The focused plan would include a $3,500 deductible for a single plan, and $7,000 deductible for a family plan.The cost to the district for option 1 would be $290,000.
• Option 2 also called for the district to offer a Robin Broad Plan and a Robin Focused Plan. The broad plan would include a $5,000 deductible for a single plan and a $10,000 deductible for a family plan. The focused planwould include a $4,000 deductible for a single plan and an $8,000 deductible for a family plan. The cost to the district for this option would be $200,000.
• Option 3 included only a Robin Focused Plan that would have a $4,000 deductible for a single plan and an $8,000 deductible for a family plan. The cost to the district would be $214,000.
• Option 4 included only a Robin Focused plan, but it included a $5,000 deductible for a single plan and a $10,000 deductible for a family plan. The cost to the district for this option would be $93,000.
Under the Robin Focused plan, some providers who are currently in-network would become out-of-network providers.
The HRA contributions would remain the same as they have been for employees.
Kuhn told the board that the CESA 8 financial advisors that the district works with recommended that the board approve option 2. Kuhn said he recommended option 1.
Regarding the health insurance offered by the district, board member Ben Huber said, “I think we outta respect the fact that one of the reasons why teachers tend to go into this field is because it has always been known to have a very good insurance policy. And it’s been a safe, consistent policy.”
He added that having the district offer the Robin Broad Plan makes sense.
Board Vice President Kris Strauman said she tended to agree with Kuhn’s recommendation.
“Option 1, when you look at having the cadillac insurance for years, and then all of a sudden we’re going to pull the rug out from under you, and yeah, we gave you a raise, but we’re going to take all that back, I think we need to be real careful about how hard we hit ’em that first year,” Strauman said.
Zachowand Board Clerk Klint Barkow said they also agreed with option 1.
Board Treasurer Jason Moder said he thought option 2 would be better for district employees because it gives the employees options. He said under this option, employees would be able keep more money in their paycheck if they don’t have a lot of claims.
Kuhn acknowledged that if an employee doesn’t use their deductible, option 2 would be the better choice, but if an employee uses its deductible, then option 1 would be the better choice.
After the discussion, Strauman said if option 2 would leave more money in the paychecks of employees, she was in favor of option 2.