Posted 4-6-2019 (Dated 4-5-2019) Changes are coming: Health care, 21 hours and the Educator Effectiveness System

MEMBER MATTERS Presented by the Hawaii State Teachers Association

APRIL 5, 2019 What you need to know about your health care plan On Thursday, a Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (EUTF) outreach and training specialist joined us on Facebook Live to discuss health care plan changes and open enrollment. View the video If you have any questions, email eutf.outreach@hawaii.gov. Keep in mind, the rates currently provided by EUTF do not reflect the updated rates as determined by HSTA's latest settlement (see next item). They will wait until all units complete collective bargaining, as well as official notice from the state, before publishing all updated rates at the same time. We created our own updated reference sheet here, based on the newly negotiated rates for HSTA members, as a quick, easy way to compare plan rates in the coming year. The EUTF negotiates with providers every year. Sometimes those negotiations result in higher rates, sometimes lower. For this coming year, HMSA plans are higher, but Kaiser plans are lower. Settlement reached, updates to your contract On Monday, HSTA's Board of Directors approved a supplemental contract agreement with the State of Hawaii and the Board of Education, worth more than $45 million for our members, to extend job-embedded professional development and increase employer contributions to health coverage. View the full summary Changes to the Educator Effectiveness System Adjustments are being made to the Educator Effectiveness System for School Year 2019-20. Thanks to collaborative work by the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the Hawaii Department of Education, Superintendent Christina Kishimoto issued a memo Friday addressing changes to streamline and strengthen support for improving teacher practice. Understand the changes Tax preparation tips The state's official tax instruction book confirms union dues can still be deducted from state taxes, subject to limit. What you should do NEA Member Benefits and H&R Block have joined forces to offer special discounts and pricing on tax preparation. View the offers Share your feedback on school discipline Are you seeing or struggling with escalating student behavior, like violence, yelling, bullying or cutting class? Complete a brief survey by midnight to help us as we work with the Department and Board of Education on solutions. Take the survey Don't audit the DOE HSTA President Corey Rosenlee told state lawmakers, "No one is suggesting that we audit Punahou, or that spending $30,000 for a student at Punahou is wasteful. We only do that for our public school students, and that’s the real problem of this bill." Watch him speak More stories and links 'Living with 2 roommates in a dump': Hawaii is too expensive to be paradise for teachers 'Grade everybody or grade no one, but be fair to public schools' Her son died of leukemia. Now, this Oahu teacher honors his memory by trying to save others View all recent stories on HSTA's website