LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, December 1, 2020 6:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. at the STEM Center 525 Tarbutton Road, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Ms. Donna Doss, Dr. David Gullatt, Mr. Danny Hancock, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, and Mr. Hunter Smith
.
Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. David Ferguson, and Ms. Lynda Henderson were absent. Ms. Susan Wiley was present remotely.
President Mitcham called the meeting to order and Mr. Mack gave the invocation. Lisa Bastion, Chief Academic Officer/Assistant Superintendent, led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Doss, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.
Upon a motion by Ms. Abrahm, seconded by Dr. Gullatt, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on November 10, 2020, as distributed.
David Charpentier, VP of Brown & Brown Insurance, shared with board members the results of “shopping” the market for other carriers to see if there were better insurance offers than Blue Cross. He said because LPSB is self-funded, the main item to concentrate on is Stop Loss, which is the insurance that protects the plan from very large claims. LPSB is self-funded for all claim costs up to $175,000 for each member. Stop Loss Insurance pays any eligible amount above that. Brown & Brown went to seventeen carriers for Stop Loss Insurance, eight initially came back with a quote, only three of those provided firm quotes. United Health Care had the lowest cost quote for Stop Loss. However, it is tied to moving the claims administration away from Blue Cross. United Health Care also had the lowest quote for administrative services, primarily for the first year due to credits for implementation. Mr. Charpentier reminded the Board that administrative services and Stop Loss are only about 15% of the cost of the plan. The overwhelming majority of the cost is claims. The most important variable in payment of claims are the discounts that the plan is afforded by the Provider Network and we know what the discounts are with Blue Cross on LPSB claims. With Blue Cross, we have averaged over the last three years 68% discounts. He was able to determine that higher discounts from Blue Cross offset the lower fixed costs offered by United Health Care. Therefore, his recommendation was to remain with Blue Cross for health and dental administration services and Stop Loss coverage.
Mr. Charpentier explained that Pharmacy proposals were obtained from Blue Cross/Express Scripts, United Health Care/Optum, and Navitus. Blue Cross/Express Scripts and United Health Care/Optum each assumed with their Pharmacy quotes that they would be the claims administrator. The quotes do not apply if the other company provides administration. Navitus would have worked with either administrator. The quotes were analyzed to the degree possible without engaging (at a cost) a Pharmacy Consultant. The determination was that Blue Cross/Express Scripts had a better offer than Navitus. Optum was close, but was not offered with Blue Cross administration. He said the bottom-line was if we are remaining with Blue Cross for administration, we should stay with Blue Cross for Pharmacy as well.
The next area analyzed was whether LPSB should no longer be self-funded and become fully insured. LPSB would pay a flat premium to Blue Cross, typically a four-tier premium. The bottom-line, there were no savings evident. The current plan is lower in cost than Blue Cross fully insured and United Health Care fully insured. There were also no savings in fully insured dental quotes. Mr. Charpentier also analyzed the cost of the best Office of Group Benefits (OGB) plan. There were no savings to move to OGB unless you moved to a lower plan with lesser benefits.
Mr. Charpentier stated that a claims history analysis was performed. The findings were that LPSB has a large population of chronically ill members. Diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis are all significant cost drivers. He reminded board members that several years ago we attempted to implement a Diabetes Program, but were unsuccessful due to contractual issues. With this in mind, he has had conversations with Blue Cross, as well as other vendors, to preview different programs to help prevent or manage chronic illnesses. He concluded saying he would be bringing potential programs to the Board for review in the coming months.
Juanita Duke, Chief Financial Officer, expressed thanks and appreciation to Mr. Charpentier and Brown & Brown Insurance for the work they have done and the information they have provided. Ms. Duke communicated that after Brown & Brown’s extensive research and market analysis, the administration agrees with Mr. Charpentier’s recommendation to remain with Blue Cross Blue Shield for the 2021 renewal. She asked Mr. Charpentier to explain the renewal on the Stop Loss. He stated that there is actually a decrease in the fixed costs for Blue Cross. Due to the competition, Blue Cross reduced the administrative costs. The second thing he wanted to point out was there was an increase in the Stop Loss costs. When the reduction in fixed costs and the increase in the Stop Loss costs are combined, there is an overall $97,000 increase for the year in total fixed costs. In the current year, there were two members that the Stop Loss carrier knew would have very high cost claims for the year; they did not pay for these claims. These claims were excluded from Stop Loss coverage and the carrier did not charge LPSB a premium. Between these two members, the plan accepted an additional $900,000 of risk this year. This $900,000 exposure to the plan goes away January 1. He said it was a good renewal overall and he was very pleased with it.
Ms. Duke then explained the changes in the premium schedules recommended for the self-funded health plan effective for coverage starting January 1, 2021. She indicated the health premium schedules had not been adjusted to reflect current plan costs for many years. Member premiums are not changing at this time, but employer premiums are increasing on the schedule in order to be transparent in showing the true cost of coverage for the 12 member premium categories and to charge the cost accurately to programs in the general ledger. She stated this is not an increase in cost to the Board, but an alignment of the premium schedule to what the Board is already paying for coverage. Plans are to review and adjust the schedule annually if needed to be transparent to members of the true cost of coverage.
Upon a motion by Dr. Gullatt, seconded by Mr. Hancock and Ms. Doss, the Board unanimously voted to approve the 2021 self-funded health and dental renewal recommended by Brown & Brown to continue health and dental administration services, stop loss coverage, and pharmacy benefit management with Express Scripts with Blue Cross Blue Shield. In addition, Board members voted to approve the updated self-funded health premium contribution schedule for coverage effective January 1, 2021. There is no increase in member premium contributions in the self-funded health and dental plan.
Superintendent Mike Milstead reminded the Board that board members are required to complete six continuing education hours annually because of Act 705 of the 2010 legislative session. An additional responsibility has been imposed by revised statute 43:1170, requiring elected officials to receive a minimum of one hour of education and training on the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act during each term of office. Finally, a press release providing the training status of each member must be published in the official journal each year. Mr. Milstead asked for permission to publish the board members' 2020 training hours; eleven met or exceeded the minimum requisite and one member, Ms. Henderson, will obtain hers prior to the end of December 2020.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Smith, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to enter board members ' 2020 training certificates into the official minutes of the Board.
Rik Cason, Transportation Supervisor, stated that in order to continue to provide a safe and efficient bus service for the students of Lincoln Parish and to meet the demands of extracurricular activities such as athletics and field trips, it is vital that new buses are purchased on a yearly basis. Mr. Cason shared with the Board that the demand for extracurricular activities and athletic trips continues at a high demand and as the fleet of buses age, there are always buses that need to be replaced due to mileage and/or chronic maintenance issues. In addition, the cost to operate and maintain gasoline fueled buses versus diesel fueled buses would be more economical for the School Board. He said that the purchase of three new buses would allow the transportation department to continue to upgrade its fleet and to provide reliable service to all students. School bus purchases are no longer restricted to the bid process and may be purchased utilizing the State Contract Purchase Process; the estimated cost for the buses is $235,000.
Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to purchase three new gasoline fueled conventional school buses through the State Contract Process.
Ms. Bastion reminded board members that they approved a policy in July to help protect employees for COVID reasons. The policy addressed Emergency Family and Medical Leave and Emergency Paid Sick Leave. Congress mandated the original policy and it is set to expire December 31. Ms. Bastion shared that it will probably be extended but LPSB would like to be proactive and feel like we owe that to our employees because there is comfort with this policy being in place. She proposed a revision to the policy and read the following change, “The provisions of this policy are based on the FFCRA and shall be in effect from April 1, 2020, through the end of the current Public Health Emergency or any later date established by Congress” and “Paid emergency sick leave under this policy shall not be provided beyond the expiration date of the current Public Health Emergency, nor beyond an expiration date determined by Congress to end the emergency paid sick leave for the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Ms. Bastion explained that due to the immediate necessity of the revisions to GBRIBC the Board must temporarily suspend Board Policy BD – School Board Policy, and then immediately approve the revisions to the GBRIBC policy.
Upon a motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted to temporarily suspend Board Policy BD – School Board Policy. Upon a motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously approved revisions to GBRIBC – Emergency Family and Medical Leave (EFML) and Emergency Paid Leave for COVID-19.
Dr. Doris Lewis, Director of Human Resources, communicated the following personnel changes:
1. Resignation of Mike Milstead, Superintendent at Central Office, effective December 31, 2020.
2. Administrative Point of Reference, Ricky Durrett, Superintendent at Central Office, effective January 1, 2021, replacing Mike Milstead who resigned.
3. Resignation of Paula Smith, special education teacher at Ruston Elementary effective December 4, 2020.
4. Employment of Whitney McDonald, special education teacher at Ruston Elementary effective November 30, 2020, replacing Paula Smith who resigned and Gloria Salas, math teacher at Ruston Junior High effective November 30, 2020, replacing Matthew Vincent who resigned.
5. Employment of Yvonne Drake, custodian at I.A. Lewis effective November 19, 2020, replacing Rhonda Sampson who resigned.
Ms. Duke shared that sales tax collections for November 2020 include the first month of collections from the new 2020 ½-cent sales tax that occurred in October. Collections for the month of November were up 43.9% over this month last year. This was an increase of $612,626; collections included from the new tax were $385,907. She said year-to-date, compared to this time last year, total collections were up 14.06%. The monthly performance equivalent without the new sales tax is a 16.26% increase over November 2019, and year-to-date through this time last fiscal year is an increase of 8.91%. She opined that the increases were due to construction in the parish and Hurricane Laura recovery.
Ms. Duke reported that this time last year the unassigned fund balance was 19.91%, this year it is 14.44% of total expenditures in the General Fund. The General Fund is operating with an ending unassigned fund balance of $5.1 million, compared to last year; which was $4.4 million. She shared that total contributions to the General Fund Insurance Transfer account was $3.5 million. The district M&O funds have a positive balance now but as we move towards the end of the year balances will decline until we receive property tax collections.
Moving on to the Health Care Fund, total claims expenses for the month of October were $837,773 according to Ms. Duke. The monthly average for the first ten months of the year was $656,000. She stated that total net reductions in health plan costs for the first ten months of the year were approximately $933,000. We cannot be sure if this is due to the Blue Advantage Plan, deferred services by members, or providers reducing their costs.
In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Milstead said:
1. Clearing and remodeling work has been done at the Simsboro baseball and softball fields. We need a small piece of land adjacent to the fields in order to facilitate our plan to make the fields the best they can be. We had the land appraised and were ready to purchase but the landowner, Steve Cranford, has graciously decided to donate the property, approximately 1.006 acres, to the district. Attorney Lewis Jones will take care of the needed paperwork.
2. As we anticipated, COVID numbers increased after the Thanksgiving break. Due to this, we have decided to move back to the A/B schedule for grades 7-12, for the two weeks before and after Christmas break. Mr. Durrett explained to the Board that there is a huge shortage of substitute teachers. Moving back to the A/B schedule eliminates the need for substitutes in grades 7-12 because teachers can cover classes on their virtual days. This allows us to use the substitutes we have for K-6 grades. Principals were included in the decision-making and they all agreed.
3. Ms. Bastion would like to share the latest COVID numbers as of 2:00 p.m. today. She reported that since August 19, the first day of school, 3.39% of our students have tested positive, which is really a low percentage. There has been an influx in adults. We have had an increase of 23 adults test positive in the last two weeks. Today we have 43 employees out either quarantining or in isolation. Most have to quarantine because they were exposed last week during Thanksgiving break. She spoke with a nurse today who reported that they are not seeing younger elementary age students testing positive. Older students who are being exposed and testing positive are not typically being exposed at school; it is from activities outside of school.
4. He wanted to introduce Dana Talley, the new Elementary Supervisor. Ms. Talley has worked in the parish before but most recently worked at the Louisiana State Department of Education. She brings invaluable experience to our district and her ability to evaluate teachers will be dynamic. Ms. Talley said she was glad to be back in the district and ready to narrow her focus on one district.
5. The LSBA Convention will be March 7-9, 2021, at the Shreveport Convention Center. It will also be offered virtually for those that are interested.
After several board members expressed their sentiments to Superintendent Milstead, Dr, Gullatt made a motion that the meeting adjourn, the meeting adjourned at 6:59.
Mike Milstead, Secretary Joe E. Mitcham, Jr., President