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Teachers Angry About Health Insurance Costs : Benefits: The out-of-pocket expenses could be hundreds a month. Officials say the district simply cannot keep pace with premiums.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Teachers in the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District in Camarillo say they are outraged to learn that beginning in July they will have to pay hundreds of dollars a month out of their own pockets to cover medical benefits the school district previously paid.

But district officials, who dispute that figure, said the teachers have long known that the school district cannot keep up with skyrocketing insurance premiums that will affect every employee in the school district.

Supt. Shirley Carpenter said the district had negotiated a $3,900 per employee cap on insurance benefits several years ago, but that the cost of health benefits will increase 49% in October and the district can no longer afford to cover full medical benefits for its employees.

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“Health benefits have gone absolutely crazy, and the $3,900 cap has come and gone,” Carpenter said.

Last fall, the district negotiated an agreement with the union to use a windfall from a state ballot measure that passed in 1988 to cover the difference in medical costs for seven months. But the seven-month period ends this month, Carpenter said.

Teachers must pay the difference in insurance coverage at least through September, Carpenter said. Negotiations for a new teachers contract will begin in October, she said. The current contract expires Dec. 31.

Pleasant Valley teachers calculate that the increased insurance premiums would be an average of $464 a month for employees. But district officials said the increased premiums would be about one-fourth of that amount.

Last week, about 75 of the 450 teachers and classified employees in the Pleasant Valley Education Assn. picketed a Board of Trustees meeting, saying that the increased costs may force some teachers to go without medical benefits.

“We’re one of the lowest paid districts in the county, and it’s breaking our teachers’ backs,” said association Vice President Mary Moore. She said the demonstration was “to show frustration in the crisis we see in the state of our income.”

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Some teachers said they were not aware of the increase until several weeks ago. But board trustee Leonard Diamond said teachers and other employees were given ample warning of the rise in insurance rates.

“Last September, the medical benefits were negotiated, and from that time to this time every single person in the district knew when it would run out and when we would have to pay for medical benefits,” Diamond said. “We sent letters out, we announced it, we negotiated it. It’s nothing new, it’s not fun. It’s a hardship for everyone. We all know that, and we’re all in the same boat.”

Some teachers suggest that the school district could pay for the insurance increases with its surplus of funds. But district officials said most of the $2.3-million surplus on its books at the end of the 1989-90 school year is mandated for uses other than salaries and benefits.

About $1.6 million of the surplus is from various state sources, including the lottery and grant programs, and must be used for extracurricular and remedial programs, Carpenter said.

The remainder, about $610,000, is the district’s reserve for emergencies, Carpenter said. “We have to hang on to some reserve.”

Diamond, who said the teachers’ protest came up because the three-year contract is coming to an end, predicted that the issue would be resolved when negotiations begin this fall.

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“What you’re seeing is a great deal of posturing now that negotiations are coming up again,” Diamond said.

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