It’s no wonder that the St. Louis County School District is the only district in Minnesota without a current teachers contract. The decision by the district’s teachers union to switch health insurance coverage to a plan that will send premiums through the roof is indicative of local union leadership that is out-of-touch with fiscal reality and has little concern for the impact on students and even their own union members.

The union’s unilateral decision to switch from its longstanding Blue Cross health plan to the Public Employees Insurance Plan (PEIP) not only voided a tentative contract settlement that union and district negotiators had ironed out several weeks ago, it will send insurance premiums skyrocketing in ISD 2142. The majority of teachers have already notified the district that they plan to enroll in PEIP’s Advantage Plan, the most expensive one offered by the program. That decision will send premiums for family coverage from the current $1,525 a month to $1,967 a month under PEIP.

According to the school district’s business manager, the decision will cost the school district an extra $200,000 next year.

Teachers in ISD 2142 already had great health insurance benefits, but union leaders apparently decided to trade-in their Cadillac plan for a Mercedes-Benz.

Such a decision at a time when the district is laying off teachers, struggling to keep class sizes under control, and working to control other costs in an effort to trim budget deficits, is absolutely reckless.

We doubt, frankly, that this decision reflects the thinking of a majority of teachers in the school district, many of whom are concerned about their profession’s reputation and their students. But the union’s leadership, composed of a small group of senior teachers, appears focused primarily on their own personal bottom line, at the expense of all other considerations.

They clearly aren’t considering the consequences, which include unnecessary teacher layoffs. The $200,000 a year in additional premiums that union leaders are forcing the district to incur could pay to reinstate at least three and a half laid-off teachers this year. Instead, dollars that could be directed to the classroom are being flushed to pay for benefits that are far out of proportion with those received by almost any other workers in the region.

This is exactly the kind of action that has increasingly given some teachers unions a black eye with the public.

While school administrators are obviously eager to obtain a new teachers contract, which is now more than a year out of date, the school board should hold firm in demanding that teachers pay a bigger percentage of their health insurance costs. This was important even before the union’s decision to switch plans. Teachers in most other school districts are already paying a higher percentage of their insurance costs than in the St. Louis County School District. At the same time, the district’s teachers enjoy one of the highest pay scales, particularly for senior teachers, in the entire state. How much more do the district’s teachers really need?

Other unions, including teachers unions, have adjusted their demands when their employers faced financial constraints. It’s time for ISD 2142’s teachers to do the same.