The Michigan Education Association union president insists that a second-year teacher with a master's degree working in the Tecumseh Public School district makes $31,000 a year, but his claims aren't backed up by a district official.

And they're not supported by a state website's claim, either.

MEA President Steven Cook has made that claim twice in Detroit News columns.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reviewed teacher contracts online to try and find a teacher who matched those qualifications and salary level and wrote two stories questioning the existence of such a teacher.

The website, Blogging for Michigan, claimed on its website to have found the second-year Tecumseh teacher with a master's degree earning $31,000-a-year teacher.

Blogging for Michigan, which states on its website “All Rights Reserved. Suck on that, GOP,” claimed to have found the teacher and posted a paycheck stub with the name of the teacher removed. The website says it is run by Christine Barry, who didn’t return a phone message seeking comment.

Jim Brown, payroll manager at Tecumseh Public Schools, said that a memo of understanding with the union imposed a 10-percent pay cut below the contractual starting salary for teachers just hired. Still, none with a master's degree in their second year of teaching earned $31,000 a year.

The salary schedule on the Tecumseh school district website says that a starting salary for a teacher with a master’s degree is $37,116. Brown said that would be reduced to $33,405 after the 10 percent reduction. Brown said that teacher would have remained at that salary for a second year due to the memo of understanding. All teacher’s had their salaries restored to the full schedule amount as of April 27, he said.

Brown said a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would start with a salary of $33,665, which would be reduced to $30,299 after the 10 percent reduction.

The Michigan Association of School Boards reported in 2011 that a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree had an average salary of $36,798.

Many districts offer much higher salaries to teachers just starting out. For instance, in Grosse Pointe, a second-year teacher with a master’s degree makes $52,265. In River Rouge, that teacher makes $50,522. The average teacher’s salary in Michigan is $63,024, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

The MEA's Cook said on March 28 in a Detroit News column that there was a teacher with a gross salary of $31,000 per year with a master’s degree in his or her second year on the job. On April 25, Cook mentioned that teacher was from Lenawee county and repeated the claim the teacher earns $31,000 a year and has a master’s degree.

Cook didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

The president of the state’s largest public school union pointed out in a recent newspaper article that a teacher will soon be paying $8,000 a year for his or her own insurance.

Yet the union itself is a major reason the teacher is facing higher out-of-pocket expenses, says one education expert. Insurance coverage is negotiated in union contracts and some districts are switching out of the more expensive union-backed Michigan Education Special Services Association plan to plans with less costly coverage — and saving their employees money.

In a recent Detroit News op-ed, MEA President Steven Cook said that a state law that caps how much a public employer will pay in health insurance premiums will cost a public school teacher $8,000.

But Michael Van Beek, education policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said such an expense would mean the health care premiums were $23,000 a year for a family plan, which is 75 percent more expensive than the typical private sector health care family plan.

The state put a cap on what a public employer can pay in premiums for an employee’s health insurance. It’s $5,500 for a single plan; $11,000 for two people; and $15,000 for a family.

Van Beek said he thinks that the teacher paying $8,000 must have the family plan because it’s unlikely a two-person plan would cost $19,000.

If Cook were truly concerned about his union members paying more out-of-pocket for their health insurance, he should look to what the Ravenna Public Schools has done.

Ravenna’s teachers voted to switch from the MESSA Choices II plan to a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan with a Health Savings Account, said Ravenna Superintendent John Van Loon.

The district has a hard cap of $14,000 a year it will pay for health insurance for its employees. By switching out of MESSA, the costs for a full-family plan went from $18,000 with MESSA to $14,900 for the new insurance, Van Loon said.

So the out-pocket-costs dropped from $4,800 to $900.

“It did save our employees a lot of money,” Van Loon said. “There are other plans out there that are much cheaper and still have excellent insurance. Our teachers’ group here found that.”

Cook didn’t reply to emails seeking comment.