Benefit costs take toll on key education programs

AT THE risk of ruffling the feathers "on some really big birds," Alabama Education Superintendent Joe Morton said recently that the schools are in desperate straits after two rounds of budget cuts and need a little help from their employees on the cost-cutting front.

Specifically, he called for the state to require teachers and other school employees to pay a larger share of the bill for their comparatively lavish employee benefits.

The superintendent expected to ruffle some feathers and, indeed, he did disturb the plumage of perhaps the biggest bird in Montgomery: the Alabama Education Association.

Although AEA boss Paul Hubbert made noises a few weeks ago about considering the possibility of premium increases, more recently a spokeswoman for the AEA said the group's members are "concerned that Dr. Morton would want to balance the budget on the backs of educational employees."

This knee-jerk response causes us to invite all who really care about the children to join Dr. Morton in the feather-ruffling. Our "educational employees" enjoy some of the best employee benefits available.

While the schools are cutting programs and trying to figure out how they'll deal with the latest reduction in state funding, Alabama teachers and retired teachers are paying just $2 a month for individual health insurance coverage.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of more than 1,900 employers, the average individual premium for workers is more than $750 a year. Family coverage costs workers an average of about $3,400 per year. Alabama teachers pay about $2,000 a year for family coverage.

The AEA will argue that Alabama teachers aren't paid very well, so they deserve top-notch benefits. But the state would be better off if it paid the most effective teachers higher salaries, based on merit (the AEA opposes that), and reduced soaring benefit costs to a more manageable level.

The state's cost of providing health care coverage for education employees is expected to rise from $752 a month to $995 a month in 2011.

"In a time when classrooms are hurting, when we do not have funding for reading, math, science, textbooks or teacher supplies, we must draw the line on any new increases for fringe benefits," Dr. Morton said.

He makes a compelling case. Parents should demand to know why those key areas should be cut — reading, math, science, etc. — while teachers continue to enjoy a virtual freebie for individual health insurance.