Home Insurance For Public School Personnel

LI schools open for corporate business?

The importance of a good education for young Long Islanders is an important topic, one that goes to the heart of Long Island’s future. It is critical that Long Island’s youth be well-educated, a challenging goal for many school districts in the wake of economic challenges and budget crunches. This is where an interesting topic – corporate sponsorship in schools – comes into play.

Given the affluence of many of Long Island’s school districts and the eventual spending power of its youth, corporate sponsorship in schools could become an increasingly important mechanism for quality education and a valuable investment for businesses. From a business perspective, an investment through school sponsorship now could have a huge impact on good will or buying proclivity years from now. Corporate sponsorship of Long Island schools may be a more attractive option than sponsorship in other schools nationwide.

Recently, I read a Long Island Business News article entitled “Home Field Advantage”about how Long Island schools are being enticed by corporate sponsors. The article discussed how at a time when school budgets around the nation are being slashed and extracurricular activities like art, music, and athletics are at risk of closing, an Ohio company’s Wantagh franchise is seeking to help local Long Island school sports avoid spending cuts.

The company, Sports Image, arranges for corporate funding for school athletics in exchange for advertising rights. One major road block to corporate funding of schools is legislation that prohibits advertising in schools. Sports Image franchisees meet with local schools and determine their areas of need, then solicit companies for monetary donations to meet those needs.  In one example, a school may need a score board for their football field and Sports Image finds a company to pay for it and the company’s logo appears on the billboard.  Additional sponsorships may include halftime sponsors at games, tables set up in schools and public address announcements.  This type of business is lucrative for franchisees, which may get commissions as high as 50 percent when acquiring school equipment or other items. With over 120 Long Island public school districts, the region has huge potential for corporate business and sponsorship.

Pike BOE seeks AG ruling | The Troy Messenger

The Pike County Board of Education wants the Attorney General to clarify issues regarding employee retirement and health insurance costs.

Education Mark Bazzell called a meeting of the Pike County Board of Education Thursday afternoon to request the board’s approval of a resolution permitting him to request an opinion from the Alabama Attorney General regarding public education employee health insurance.

Come Dec. 31, 2011, all certified public education employees will be placed on a sliding scale for retiree’s health insurance costs, according to a law passed by the Legisalture.

Bazzell said anyone who retires prior to that cutoff will not be subject to the sliding scale insurance premiums. The sliding scale will require them to pay higher premiums.

“That is causing some certified public school employees to consider mid-year retirement rather than waiting until the end of the school year,” Bazzell said. “At this time, we have two certified public employees and three support personnel who will be affected and there is the possibility there are others.”

Bazzell said the two certified public school employees who are being force to make a mid-year retirement would like to continue to work on a contract basis following their retirement. He said that arrangement would be beneficial to their students in not breaking the continuum of the educational process.

However, by law retired employees cannot earn more than $22,000.

Bazzell said he wants the Attorney General to clarify whether the employees can continue to teach on a contract basis at a lesser pay rate so as not to exceed the earnings limitation or could they be hired as a long-term substitutes.

“I think the request for on opinion by the Attorney General is worth a shot,” Bazzell said.

“If the answer is no, then we will have to advertise for those positions at the beginning on the year.

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