The Los Angeles Unified School District has reached a tentative health and welfare agreement through 2020 with the eight unions representing its employees.
The agreement calls for the district’s contribution levels to remain at 2017 levels for each of the three years of the agreement, said Shannon Haber, the district’s chief communications officer.
The agreement also calls for any amount in excess of $100 million in the health care reserves as of Dec. 31, 2020 to be returned to the district’s general fund. If the health care reserves are below $100 million on Dec. 31, 2020, the district would replenish it to the $100 million level if the unions achieve a $200 million reduction in unfunded retiree medical care liability during the life of the agreement and do not make the health plans more expensive, according to Haber.
Projections indicate there should be more than a $100 million reserve level on Dec. 31, 2020, Haber said Thursday.
A committee will be formed to study ways to reduce the district’s unfunded retiree medical care liability and explore ways to reduce the percentage of spending on health care as a percentage of the district’s total budget, Haber said.
The agreement requires ratification by the unions and Board of Education.
The district will not increase the amount it spends on health care as a result of the agreement, school board President Monica Garcia said.
“We have also built in incentives to encourage everyone to look for additional ways to tackle our unfunded medical liability,” Garcia said. “Overall, this agreement is an important step in addressing our financial challenges.”
Interim Superintendent Vivian Ekchian said the agreement “provides stability and is good for our students, employees and the community.”
—City News Service