For Discussion Only
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Submitted by Petal Robertson, Vice President
New Jersey Education Association
Thank you, Senator Beach, the members of the Committee, and especially the bill sponsors, Senators Turner, McKeon, and Polistina. We appreciate your support and hope that additional legislators will join in supporting this important measure.
As educators, we believe in leaving no student behind. When students face challenges, we do not expect them to solve those problems alone. Instead, we step forward and provide the support and opportunities they need to succeed.
That same principle is reflected in S4438. A central feature of the legislation is that it places all school districts into a single insurance pool.
Under the current system, the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program primarily includes districts that are too small to secure coverage independently and districts that private insurers are unwilling to cover because of high claims experience. Those districts are now facing a 34 percent rate increase and are struggling with impossible budget challenges.
In many respects, those districts have been left to fend for themselves, and students ultimately bear the burden of the resulting cuts and disruptions. Even districts that have moved to the private market continue to struggle, as they routinely face annual rate increases in the range of 15 to 20 percent.
S4438 creates a single insurance pool encompassing every school district and community college. This reflects a common-sense insurance principle: larger and more diverse risk pools are better positioned to manage costs and spread risk effectively. Successful insurance systems depend not only on higher-cost participants but also on healthy participants who help create balance and stability.
Most importantly, this approach is fair and serves the greater good. It is fundamentally unfair for students to lose instructional aides, music programs, art programs, or other valuable services simply because their district experiences dramatic increases in healthcare costs.
We understand that some district leaders have concerns about joining a unified plan because they have experienced more favorable rates outside of SEHBP. Those concerns are valid and deserve consideration. However, our responsibility is to focus on what is best for the whole system rather than what may benefit a limited number of individual cases.
Any district operating in the private market remains vulnerable to significant cost increases and could find itself forced back into SEHBP after only a single high-cost medical event involving employees or their dependents. So every district, even those not currently in SEHBP, will benefit by a single more stable pool.
By bringing together nearly 600,000 covered lives, including employees and their families, we will have significantly greater negotiating leverage and a much stronger ability to secure cost structures that outperform what is available in today’s marketplace. We also recognize that the current system, in which SEHBP functions as an insurer of last resort, contributes substantially to the escalating costs that continue to threaten affordability.
The question before us today is not what is best for any individual district, broker, or insurance company. The question is what is best for New Jersey’s public education system and for the students we serve. Bringing everyone together in a unified approach is clearly in the best interests of those students.