School Consortia in Ohio

State of Ohio School Consortia Council of Governments (Chapter 167) v. Section v. Co-ops –Council of Government organizations pre-date and comprise about 1/3 of the entities, –Section 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.

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 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 State of Ohio School Consortia

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

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