ST. PAUL – During the monthly St. Paul Education board meeting on March 13, trustees and administration discussed the Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan (ASEBP).
ASEBP offers benefits like life insurance, extended disability, extended health care, dental, vision care, and health spending account. Jointly governed by the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) and the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA), the ASEBP is used by most school districts as their benefit provider.
Champagne told the board during his ASEBP report, that they will be paying an increase of 7.8 per cent to ASEBP premiums.
While this went down from the expected 9.2 per cent increase, SPERD’s funding level is “not going up anywhere near that [7.8 per cent increase],” according to Champagne.
The rising cost of health plans is a concern, said Champagne. A serious discussion is required, because the significant ongoing premium increases are not sustainable given current funding levels.
St. Paul Education board chair Sylvie Smyl asked if it was possible to send a letter of some kind with the board’s counterparts, as well as the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA), regarding concerns about the ASEBP.
Champagne said it is, adding they do not deny the effects of inflation, but at the end of the day, the school division cannot continue to pay more and more, while the amount of funding it receives stays the same.
Smyl asked how much the increase will approximately cost the division.
Champagne said it will easily cost the division $200,000 more. The board fell silent for a few moments, upon hearing the amount.
Following more discussions, Trustee Dwight Wiebe said it could not hurt to write a letter. Wiebe motioned to write a letter to ASBA and ASEBP about the school division’s concerns regarding the increase in premium rates and provide a copy of the letter to the Minister of Education.
The motion passed.
Explaining the increase
In a follow-up statement, Champagne provided more details and clarification on how much the increase would cost St. Paul Education.
Champagne said the school division annually pays around $3.3 million in ASEBP premiums.
So, if premiums go up by 7.8 per cent, “this is approximately $225,000 as not all benefit areas are equally affected,” he said. “For the current year, benefits increased [by] 10.3 [per cent] and 7.7 [per cent] the year prior.” This is a 25.8 per cent increase in the benefit-cost ratio over three years.
Compared to the funding that school divisions receive from the government, which increased by only six per cent over three years, the net difference to St. Paul Education operations is around $660,000. In addition, over the same period, St. Paul Education’s revenue only went up by 1.2 per cent due to declining enrolment, said Champagne, “so we feel it even more.”
Champagne added that ASEBP is an “excellent plan provider,” and the issue lies in the impact of the increase on the school division’s budget.
“To be clear, we have no issues with ASEBP benefits and we know that inflation is significant. We are just expressing concern that the increases are not sustainable for us given our relatively static funding,” said Champagne. “We would like to see the ASEBP pay serious attention to this issue and provide some feedback on how to address these inflationary pressures because we can't afford these increases.”
