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Q: Are
chartered public schools eligible for participation under the Municipal
Association?
A: Probably.
Chartered public schools are public schools, are eligible for participation in
teacher retirement, public school insurance programs, public school tax
exemption status, and are governed by public school laws, in general.
Q: Who is the
contact person for charter schools at the Municipal Association?
A:
Charlene Wallace.
(1.800.852.3358)
Click Here for their web site.
Q: What is the
proper title for the services the charter schools need to discuss?
A: The proper
reference is “The Local
Government Center” for the New Hampshire Municipal Association. These
offices have undergone a reorganization in an attempt to streamline services so
that all the entities are now under the
Local Government Center (GLC) name now.
Q: Insurance
rates. Do all public school in NH have the same rates?
A: No, each
SAU has different rates based on the SAU’s history of use. Our overall program
is a self-insurance program, so rates differ from SAU to SAU. There is one pool,
however, called the UNDER-100 Pool for groups with less than 100 employees.
Charter schools would all fall into the UNDER-100 pool for rate quotes.
Q: Must the
charter school participate in ALL programs the Municipal Association offers, if
it joins? (e.g. health, disability, life insurance…) or can it participate in
just 1 or 2.
A: The charter
school does not have to participate in ALL programs. Once the charter
school is deemed eligible, it can then participate in the health, dental, life,
short-term and long-term disability programs, as well as property liability and
Workers Compensation programs. It can just use health insurance, or just use
disability insurance, and is not required to use “all” programs.
Q: Must ALL
the employees enroll for whatever benefits are selected by the charter school
board?
A: The
requirement is 75% of all eligible employees be enrolled unless an employee’s
health insurance is covered by a spouse.
Q: Re Health
Insurance, would employees have ALL choices the Municipal Association offers or
could the charter school board select 1 or more programs from which employees
could choose?
A: The charter
school board could pick the health insurance options it wants to offer. For
2004-2005, the most economical choices for single person would include:
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the Matthew Thornton HMO with is $410.59/month
and no deductible
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the Comp-1000 program with $1,000 deductible
for $340.69/month plus an 80/20 co-pay up to a maximum out-of-pocket
expense of $2,000 for a single person,
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the Comp-5000 program with a $5,000 deductible
and no co-pay after this for $298.98/month.
Q: Eligibility
for individuals?
A: On this
end, 15 hours/week is the minimum hours/work for eligibility. The Board of
Trustees determines the # hours needed for its employees to be eligible for the
program. The guideline must be consistent for every employee of the charter
school. You cannot individualize. The employer can decide on 30-hour/week or
35-hour/week or 20-hour/week eligibility guideline for participation.
Q: Enrollment
dates, for employers?
A: The 1st
day of any month a charter school could begin. Our rates are set for July 1st
June 30th and those rates are in effect for this 12-month period whether
an employer enrolls in July or September or March.
Q: Can the
Municipal Associations programs for health, life insurance, or disability be
included in a Chapter 125 Cafeteria Plan offered by the charter school?
A: Yes.
Q: Regarding
disability insurance…
A: This is
offered but in a different way. To have a quote, the Local Government Center of
the Municipal Association needs employee information: Date of Birth, Gender, Job
Position. For this program, eligibility is no less than 30 hours/week of
employment. Other features:
*this program is not available
to the employee after leaving this employer (unless going to a different public
employer in NH)
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there are two waiting periods to choose—90-day
or 180-day,
-
the type of coverage has choices,
also—generally 3 years for the type of work held at time of injury
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