Health care concessions a tough pill to swallow for city teachers

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

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Speech and language pathologist Sonya Brintnall has been dreaming lately of the Pacific Northwest.

"I used to live in Oregon," she said. "I could go back there, and I could be poor and have nothing, but it would be beautiful."

Brintnall, who works at Greenfield Elementary in Center City, is one of 11,500 members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers whose contracts were terminated last week by the School Reform Commission in a surprise, unilateral move.

With the contract out of the way, the District intends to pump additional and badly needed funds into schools by getting teachers to contribute toward health care costs.

Contending that the SRC acted illegally, the union plans to challenge the move in court.

For Brintnall, the action has repercussions on many levels. Her husband also teaches in the District, and her two children attend Philadelphia public schools, where resources are scarce and teachers are increasingly disgruntled.

"Being here, I make a sacrifice [that affects] my kids," she said. "They have no art class. My daughter has no art at all. They don’t have supplies, resources. I’m giving up so much because I love walking to work and living in the city, but, at some point, the math doesn’t work out."

Here’s the math: Philly teachers have lower average salaries compared with almost all surrounding school districts, but one of the major perks has been that they haven’t had to contribute to their health care premiums. With last week’s surprise move, teachers suddenly must budget for a significant reduction in take-home pay.

When District leaders have publicly discussed the burden on teachers, they’ve cited single-coverage rates for the higher deductible plan that carries high out-of-pocket maximums.

"By requiring new monthly contributions — $26 to $67 for individual coverage and up to $200 for family coverage — the District will be able to reallocate funds and restore resources that our schools currently lack," wrote Bill Green, chairman of the School Reform Commission, in an opinion piece published in Sunday’s Inquirer.

But to cover a family under the security-providing "buy-up" plan, teachers would actually spend more than $500 per month. This covers a quarter of the total premium, which is a significantly higher burden compared with suburban compensation packages.

That’s causing Brintnall to rethink her options.

"Because I’m in a highly needed field of speech/language pathology, I could have a different job tomorrow, I hate to tell you," she said during an interview in Greenfield’s schoolyard. "I get cold calls asking me to work. So I was just like, maybe I should quit."

When her colleague at Greenfield, Jackie Serra, did the math, she concluded that with this new insurance expense and the cost of child care, "financially, it may make sense for me to be a stay-at-home mom."

Read the rest of this story at NewsWorks