School Consortia in Ohio

1. School Consortia in Ohio

2. State of Ohio School Consortia • Council of Governments (Chapter 167) v. Section 9.833 v. Co-ops • Council of Government organizations pre-date 9.833 and comprise about 1/3 of the entities, • Section 9.833 enacted later, allowing school districts to pool risks, comprising about 2/3 of the entities, • Co-ops may or may not share risks, but purchase services cooperatively, • The structural organization of the entities does not seem to dictate bylaws.

3. State of Ohio School Consortia • About half of the consortia were formed in the mid to late 80’s • About 1/3 were formed in the mid 90’s • The remainder were formed more recently • Continue to be formed • There are currently underway at least 3 efforts to form new consortia

4. State of Ohio School Consortia • There are 30 to 35 independent consortia now operating in Ohio that include schools • Cover over 70,000 employees • Include more than half of all school districts in Ohio • Range in size from 120 to 12,000 employees • The majority are organized around ESC’s with school districts from one or two counties, but at least three extend well beyond county lines

5. State of Ohio School Consortia • The four largest consortia cover approximately 15% of school employees in Ohio with about 30% of school districts represented

6. State of Ohio School Consortia • A few of the consortia include non public schools, such as • Municipalities • County governments • Community Colleges, etc. • Most consortia include ESC’s, and some, but not all, include: • MRDD’s, and • Vocational Schools

7. State of Ohio School Consortia • There are a few non school consortia in Ohio • One exclusively for County governments • Several for City governments • Some of the consortia are better characterized as purchasing cooperatives, obtaining insurance contracts for participating members • Most consortia are partially self insured

8. State of Ohio School Consortia • Two general organizational practices characterize the consortia: • Common reserving - majority • Allocated reserving • Plan design philosophies split about evenly • Common plan design (no more than 2 plans) • Flexible plan design • Complete flexibility • 3 or more offerings

9. State of Ohio School Consortia • Rating process • Uniform rates for all members • Uniform rate adjustments for all members • Experience rated plans • Reserve recovery philosophies • Withdrawal provisions • Single pool consortiums, with some exceptions, do not pay run out claims • Allocated balance consortiums pay run out claims

10. State of Ohio School Consortia • Termination notification requirements • Vary from 30 days to 5 years • Consortia, generally, do not pay run out claims for departing members • No claim reporting information provided to members

11. State of Ohio School Consortia • Reserve positions • Total estimated reserves in excess of $150 million • Stop Loss deductible variations • $30,000 to $350,000 • Actuarial reporting required • No filing of the reports

12. State of Ohio School Consortia • No repository for information about consortiums • Most have outside managers