Stories from our friends at the Business Council
September 7th , 2005
by Dylan Skriloff

A few items of interest have been reported on the Business Council’s website. Anytime our friends in the council write a story of interest we will include a report of it in our own newsletter.

Special-Ed Wasteful in New York

A Manhattan Institute study has found that New York’s special education system can be greatly enhanced and be made more cost-effective if the current "bounty" system is replaced by a new "lump-sum" system that includes vouchers for private education.

The bounty system pays a school-district for every special-needs student reported, which encourages districts to deem more students as special-need. If the state and/or district were to simply provide a voucher for the full cost of the special-need student to attend a private school this would not only save millions of dollars, but place the student in a more supportive environment. An example of such a policy is the McKay Scholarship Program in Florida, which has enrolled over 15,000 special-needs students in private education with a parent approval rate of 92.7 percent, up from only 32.7 percent approval rate with the public institutions.

The Manhattan Institute study found that states with bounty systems had a much higher rate of growth in special education than those with lump–sum systems. The authors estimated that about 62 percent of special-education growth was due to the bounty system. In New York, costs of special-education have increased greatly in recent years, with over 17,000 students needlessly designated as special-need between 1994-1995 school year and 2001, the report said.

"The problem of increased number of children in special-ed is largely a self-inflicted one," the report said. "There is little evidence to support contentions that increased disability rates are to blame."

Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Rise

The cost of employer’s health insurance premiums in New York continues its double digit percentage point rise, a Business Council survey has found. For the fifth consecutive year most employers reported an over 10% premium increase with an average increase of 12.7%, down slightly from last year’s 13.4%.

The survey was conducted by Compdata Surveys of Kansas City. "With five straight years of double-digit increases, employers and employees continue to feel the burden of increasing health insurance costs," says Amy Kaminski, manager of marketing programs for Compdata Surveys. "Employers have had to make some tough decisions regarding their benefit offerings."

Some 43 percent of New York employers have increased the portion of health insurance premiums paid by employees, nearly one-third have increased deductible levels and about one in five have increased the employee co-insurance level.

More Stories

Fall Kickoff Meeting for the RBA’s new Home Improvement Alliance

Special-Ed Wasteful in New York

Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Rise

Archived Stories