Part 2 of 3 Achievement Article in the Review on Wednesday

See the Review next week to continue with my series on Student achievement in the Evansville school district. Editorial comments will take place at the end of the series, so stay tuned on that!

So much has been happening in the world of education that it's hard to pinpoint a specific issue to tackle here. Probably one of the most significant in terms of budgetary impact has been the Milton school district's arbitration win in choosing a less expensive insurance carrier. The union looked like dolts in fighting this issue. They have their hands in the pie of the former insurance carrier and didn't want to lose the business.

Since compensation packages always include insurance coverage, I'm not sure how the district will actually see use of those nearly half-million in funds. When I first was elected to the school board in 2007, the district had just successfully negotiated for less expensive insurance. The complete balance of the savings simply went into teacher salaries because the contract called for the package deal. This is unconscionable. What is the incentive moving forward for the district to practice due diligence in spending taxpayer funds if they can't realize the savings of a cost-savings move? So, it's not clear to me how the Milton district will have use of these savings for "improving and maintaining educational programs." It's my hope that the district can access the savings after paying retroactive raises and legal bills that the rest can go for the kids.