DERBY — School superintendents are used to complaints about education budgets that are out of control and wasting money.
But Supt. of Schools Janet Robinson now finds herself in the unusual situation of getting heat for a plan she says would save the school system money — more than $200,000. Not six months on the job, Robinson is butting heads with city officials for switching the broker of record for the Board of Education's insurance plan covering medical, dental, vision and prescriptions for school employees. Robinson said the new broker could provide the district with the same Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan school employees now use.
But the plan, sold through the Hamden-based broker Corporate Benefit Consultants, is $220,000 less than the price offered by its current broker, Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs, Robinson said.
In signing a letter of intent with the new broker, however, Robinson stepped outside a process of working through the city's Insurance Commission, causing concern among city officials. "The superintendent went out unilaterally," Mayor Marc Garofalo said. "The whole point of this was to work together."
Garofalo noted the school board agreed in December to drop its previous broker, sign up with Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs, and work through the Insurance Commission, a joint panel that includes two school board members.
The medical and dental rates increased 14.5 percent between 2003-04 and 2004-05, according to the minutes of the May Insurance Commission meeting. Robinson, who started in January, said she was unaware of the commission when she achieved her goal of no increase in health insurance costs for the fiscal year beginning July 1. "It had been going up continually," Robinson said.
After discovering the insurance commission's arrangement with Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs, Robinson said she went back to the firm, but received a commitment of a 6.6 percent increase. She decided to stick with Corporate Benefit Consultants.
"My board backs me on this," said Robinson, who shares the authority to sign with an agent of record with the two school board members who serve on the commission. Alderman and commission member Sam Rizzitelli said Tuesday the commission had intended to use Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs as the broker of record for both the Board of Education and the city in the coming fiscal year. The Insurance Commission meets to discuss the issue at 6 p.m. today in the old City Hall on Fifth Street.
