The attached document lists the contracts executed by the Superintendent or designee.

The initial term of the bid was one year; however, the bid documents allow the District to extend this bid for two additional one year terms with all other terms and conditions remaining the same for a total contract term of three years maximum.

Staff recommends approval for the second renewal of the contract with Gold Star Foods.

“The governing board of a school district by resolution may authorize the holder of a multiple subject or single subject credential to teach any subject in departmentalized classes to a given class or group of students below grade 9, provided that the teacher has completed at least 12 semester units, or six upper division or graduate units, of coursework at an accredited institution in each subject to be taught. The authorization shall be with the teacher’s consent.”

The following teacher has the requisite units and has agreed to the following assignment:

All three bargaining agreements have similar language in their health and welfare benefits articles delegating the responsibility to “the President or designee and the Superintendent or designee to mutually select the specific carriers” for health and welfare benefits. All three labor group presidents participate in the HBC as well as the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.

Over the last year, the HBC has met on the following dates on the following topics:

• September 10, 2020 -  Reviewed open enrollment materials and process

• February 10, 2021 - Reviewed benefits analysis and patterns of selections and enrollment

• March 24, 2021 - Reviewed insurance carriers; labor group Presidents determined to change carrier for vision insurance and asked that Human Resources begin reviewing options for changing medical insurance carrier. Following this meeting, a benefits survey was sent to all employees to determine priorities for medical insurance if any changes were to be made. Results of the survey were shared with labor leaders who also collected information directly from their members.

• May 28, 2021 - Met with consultant to review plan designs and rates from the two insurance carriers, Kaiser and Aetna, that responded to the District's request for a bid.

• July 6, 2021 - Met with consultant to further review specific details related to medical plans and rates that would be available to active employees for plan year beginning January 2022.

• July 15, 2021 - Met with consultant to review specific details related to process for transferring all retirees to new plans (early retirees aged 55-64 as well as retirees 65+) for plan year beginning January 2022.

• August 10, 2021 - Consultant and representative from Aetna met with employees  via video conference to review the plan designs and rates for Aetna and Kaiser.

Since the discussion is open annually regarding insurance carriers, all three bargaining agreements contain language that if the labor group and the District “mutually agree to leave CalPERS and join an alternate health care provider, any savings realized to the District by this change of provider will be added to the employer contribution.”  At this time, the amount paid in CalPERS fees equates to approximately $50/month ($600/annually) for each full-time employee. By moving to a new medical insurance carrier, this amount will be added to the current District contribution for employees to use toward benefits as follows:

In discussions with the labor leaders and the consultant, and in alignment with results from the employee survey, it was agreed that the following must be in place prior to making a change to a new insurance carrier:

• Kaiser must continue to be an option, preferably with two or three levels of cost and coverage (high, medium, low). Currently, the District is only able to offer a high coverage/high cost Kaiser plan with CalPERS

• To minimize disruption in health care coverage, non-Kaiser options with a new carrier must have access to the same medical groups as current non-Kaiser plans, although specific physicians may vary 

• High coverage plans from a new carrier must be available to active employees at the same or lower rates as current high coverage plans

• Additional plans with medium or low coverage must be available with a new carrier to active employees at significantly lower rates than current plans

• All retirees must continue to have access to medical insurance plans with a new carrier, along with assistance to transfer their enrollment into the new plans

The process of sending an exit letter to CalPERS in order to enter into a contract with a new medical carrier requires a Board approved resolution. In any year that this happens, the resolution must be approved and submitted in August to comply with the CalPERS deadline and to enter contract with new carrier for open enrollment in the fall.

Once the Board approves the attached resolution, the District sends the exit letter and is able to enter into a contract agreement with new medical insurance carriers.

The presidents of each employee group are in agreement that leaving CalPERS allows the opportunity for the District to offer medical insurance that better matches employees’ needs by having the flexibility to design high, medium, and low cost plans.

The HBC has been actively involved, and all the steps per the collective bargaining agreements have been followed .  The remaining step requires Board action. Therefore, staff recommends that the Board approve the attached resolution.