Quabbin schools see spike in health insurance costs

Quabbin schools see spike in health insurance costs
By James F. Russell CORRESPONDENT

BARRE — A 13 percent spike in health insurance costs means the Quabbin Regional School District will be $104,000 short of what it budgeted for the cost beginning Jan. 1, the administration disclosed at Thursday's meeting.

That is the difference between what was allocated for the line item and the new cost from the provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield, administrators said. They said some estimates they rejected showed increases of 19 percent.

The district's finance chief, Cheryl Duval, said she was told the large hike was due to about a dozen staff members with inordinately high illness-related expenses in the past 15 months.

In other business, the president of the Quabbin teachers union, Evan Barringer, told the committee he strongly disagrees with a proposal under review by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that he said could result in an educator losing his license if students perform poorly on standardized tests such as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System.

"Getting your license pulled for this reason is totally unjust," the seventh-grade social studies teacher said.

"This is an issue of deep concern to many people," Superintendent Maureen M. Marshall said. "I would be shocked to think this would ever come to pass."

Barre, Hardwick, Hubbardston, New Braintree and Oakham make up the Quabbin district.