Question: Why is tuition reimbursement only done once a year (after the December Board of Education meeting)?

Answer: As explained in Article XXV, the tuitioin reimbursement fund is a defined amount of money that is available to two groups--teachers seeking their first Master's Degree (Group 1) and teachers working beyond their first Master's (Group 2). The tuition fund reimburses the teachers in Group 1 first at the full rate per credit hour (as negotiated). All remaining funds are available to teachers in Group 2. If the amount of reimbursement being requested by teachers in Group 2 exceeds the remaining funds, then the amount per credit hour will be adjusted. All of the tuition requests need to be processed at the same time to determine the availability of funds.

Question: What is the Suburban Health Consortium? Are the Shaker Heights City Schools a member--why or why not?

Answer: The Suburban Health Consortium (SHC) is a group of smaller school districts who have joined together as a larger group to negotiate their insurance packages. The SHC is most effective for small districts because they cannot generate enough claims experiences to negotiate better rates. Shaker's size is sufficient to stand alone.

The simple answer is "No, the Shaker schools do not belong to the Suburban Health Consortium." There are some compelling reasons why. For one thing, the SHC uses Medical Mutual as their health care insurance. We use Anthem. There are significant differences between these two providers. The Insurance Committee has worked to keep Anthem as our provider since the Anthem network includes both the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. There are also issues regarding how the SHC claims are paid and how one district's premiums could cover claims in another district.

The SHTA participates in discussions regarding our health care providers. The Insurance Committee meets regularly with the district's Treasurer to review options and gather information.