School Officials Dispute Claims of Missed Savings

District leadership is challenging a New York State Comptroller's study claiming that Harrison school officials missed out on more than $4 million in possible savings over the last four years.

The efficiency study, released this week, (and attached to this article) claims that the district could have saved $2.9 million in health insurance costs if it had sought competitive rates and changed providers in 2006. Further, the study claims the district spent $1.6 million more than necessary on the custodial staff that cleans the six schools within the district.

But school officials disagree, taking issue with several aspects of both findings. Harrison Superintendent Louis Wool said the district would have lost $3 million of entitled money from the program's fund balance if the district left its current health agreement with the State-Wide Schools Cooperative Health Plan (SWSCHP). Additionally, Wool said the district would lose the ability to negotiate rates moving forward and that changing providers wouldn't necessarily be the right long-term decision.

"Frankly, their analysis is flawed," Wool said. "We think they took a very limited approach to this, they didn't look long-term."

The study disputes those numbers, saying that only $1.7 million would have been forfeited by leaving the SWSCHP. Its findings claim that money forfeited in the reserve fund would have been replaced by cheaper rates offered elsewhere. But Wool said there are other issues. For example, the study cited New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) as a possible cheaper alternative, but Wool said that program's rates have increased 84 percent over the last eight years, while SWSCHIP's rates have increased only 52 percent.

"Any perceived benefit in the short term would have been offset immediately upon our exit," Wool said.

Harrison has been a member of SWSCHP for the last 25 years. Wool serves on the SWSCHP Executive Board, which he said also helps with negotiating rates.

Another issue with the findings, Wool said, is that moving to another insurance provider would have required union consent and that there are other fees involved with joining a new provider.

"The analysis was not thorough enough to reflect that complexity of (switching)," Wool said. "You don't shop health insurance policies year-to-year."

The study also focused on custodial staffing levels within the district. According to the study, Harrison currently employs 23 more full-time custodians than necessary, costing the district as much as $1.6 million in salary and benefits. The study used numbers from the American School and University's 38th Annual Maintenance and Operations study, which estimates that a full-time custodian can maintain 32,100 square feet of building space per-shift.

Under those estimates, the district should employ less than 20 custodians district-wide to clean the school's six buildings. Harrison currently employs 41.5 full-time equivalent custodians.

That figure also drew criticism from Wool, who said the spreadsheet used to determine optimum staffing numbers doesn't take into account cleaning bathrooms, locker rooms and other duties the district asks of custodial staff, like moving bleachers and other equipment during the course of a work day.

"Their standard is not something I would endorse or recommend because it doesn't provide a safe environment for our kids," Wool said. "The recommendation as far as we're concerned is not realistic or practical—nor is it safe."

In its findings, the comptroller's office claims that by the numbers, their estimates are the norm for most school facilities and that it does not pose any health risks.

Although the district took a hard stance against most of the study's findings, Wool did accept recommendations that custodial overtime costs should be disaggregated to reflect specific costs. The audit recommended the district monitor the overtime costs by category and look deeper into how that money is being spent.

"That was a good suggestion," said Wool. "We have already modified the system so we can track it in that fashion."

Outside of that, Wool said the study misses the point and focuses on short-term planning that would never create actual savings.

"Their advice, from a long-term financial planning perspective, does not achieve its goal, which is to reduce healthcare costs," he said.