Under House Plan, Schools Would Pay More To Keep Part-Time Workers Insured
About 11,000 bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and other part-time school workers would keep their health insurance under a budget plan approved Thursday by the Georgia House. School districts, however, would be forced to pay significantly more to keep them insured.
House Appropriations Chairman Terry England stressed the importance of the workers, but said change is needed.
“We’ve got a lot of state employees out there that are not covered and so it’s kind of a fairness issue. It’s not fair to the part-time employees we’ve not been covering,” said England.
Gov. Deal raised similar concerns last month when he proposed completely eliminating the health benefits.
The House ultimately disagreed. It’s budget allows for part-time workers to stay on the state health plan, but school districts would have to pay roughly $100 million more per year.
Sid Chapman of the Georgia Association of Educators called the House budget a step forward, but still not good enough. He said many school workers would likely lose their benefits.
“I’m afraid it would put the burden back on the districts and the districts wouldn’t be able to do it,” Chapman said.
He dismissed the fairness issue, pointing out lawmakers themselves are part-time but receive health benefits. Chapman plans to lobby the Senate to amend the budget.
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