In 2011-12, Dansville Public Schools paid for all of its employees’ health insurance premiums and covered their deductibles and still paid $250,000 less than they had budgeted.

The district was able to do this because its employees switched from the top-tier MESSA insurance plan to a high deductible plan with copays, said Superintendent Amy Hodgson.

Districts are seeing savings by ditching the high-priced MESSA plan that as many as 80 percent of the school districts in Michigan carried at one time. MESSA is a third-party administrator affiliated with the Michigan Education Association that buys health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and resells it to school districts.

"Imagine how many more resources districts like these could have devoted to student learning had they made some of these common sense reforms years ago like most of the rest of the private sector did,” said Michael Van Beek, education policy director of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

The Dansville Education Association's contract expired at the end of June. Hodgson said Dansville was still in negotiations with its teachers union at the end of June on a new contract.

Once contracts expire, the state has mandated a "hard cap" on what a public employer can play in premiums for an employee’s health insurance. The cap is $5,500 for a single plan, $11,000 for two people and $15,000 for a family. Hodgson said Dansville is under the hard cap system.

The Kaiser Family Foundation 2011 survey of health insurance costs found that the average employer contribution in the U.S. for family coverage was $10,944, or 27 percent lower than the state cap for public schools. 

Some school districts have already reported similar savings to Dansville. For example, Ravenna Public Schools said that its costs for employees had dropped 17 percent since it switched from MESSA to a cheaper plan.

Alternatively, Dearborn Heights School District teachers went from paying nothing for their own health insurance premiums to paying between 32.5 and 37.5 percent toward the cost because they chose to pay more to keep MESSA. Other Dearborn Heights employees who switched to a less expensive plan paid 20 percent of their health care costs.

A state program that awarded nearly $30 million to Michigan universities for job creation in Competitive Edge Technology sectors has created 153 jobs, a little more than a third of what was projected.

The Competitive Edge Technology Grants and Loans program awarded over $100 million to various universities, companies and research firms "to encourage the development of competitive edge technologies to create jobs in the state."

Twenty-nine grants totaling over $29 million went to seven Michigan universities in 2006 and were projected to create 411 jobs. 

A 2011 progress report states that 209 jobs have been created, but 56 jobs have been lost as a result of these grants.

The sectors of competitive edge technology are classified as life sciences technology, advanced automotive, manufacturing and materials technology, homeland security and defense technology; or alternative energy technology.

Funds for the Competitive Edge Technology program come from the 21^st Century Jobs Fund and the program is administered by the Strategic Economic Investment and Commercialization Board.

In a 2008 press release, then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm stated that, "The 21^st Century Jobs Fund is the cornerstone of the most comprehensive and aggressive strategy in the nation to transform our economy, grow new high-tech companies and create good-paying jobs for our citizens.

"...Just as we are working to create jobs today, this is an important part our plan [sic] to create jobs tomorrow."

Competitive Edge Technology was one of various 21^st Century Jobs Fund programs identified by the Auditor General for lack of effective oversight. In a random sample of awards examined by the Auditor General, six Competitive Edge Technology program payments totaling $428,722 were made before receiving the related progress reports.

Additionally, the Auditor General found that the Michigan Strategic Fund did not validate expenses in progress reports submitted by recipients of 21^st Century Jobs Fund awards.

When asked if progress has been made in improving oversight of 21^st Century Jobs Fund programs, Martin Dober, who oversees the 21^st Century Jobs Fund for the MEDC, declined to comment.

The universities receiving funds were Lake Superior State University, Lawrence Technological University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.

The Competitive Edge Technology program also created a $7.7 million loan fund that has created only 20 percent of promised jobs.

Further state investment in competitive edge technology programs will continue now that Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law House Bill 5477, which repackages the failed Granholm-era “Centers of Energy Excellence” program under the new title of “Centers of Innovation.” House Bill 5477 states that Centers of Innovation program exists “to promote the development, acceleration, and sustainability of competitive edge technology sectors.”