In less than a year, the massive, and sometimes controversial, federal health care legislation will take full effect. How it will specifically affect the Wawasee Community School Corp. is not fully known yet, but the school board did hear a presentation on what is known so far during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening in Syracuse.

Often referred to as Obamacare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2014, said Jim Evans, director of finances for the school corporation. Evans said employees who work at least 30 hours or more each week must be offered an affordable health insurance plan. The cost of a premium paid for a single plan cannot exceed 9.5 percent of the person’s household income, he added.

Evans noted only non-certified staff, or classified or hourly employees, will be affected at Wawasee.

Mike Wilson, school board member, asked Evans if it is known how many employees not already offered insurance will qualify for an insurance plan. Evans estimated two to three dozen could be eligible, but some are borderline because they don’t work the same number of hours each week. Those would include bus drivers used for athletic events or those who help at sporting events.

The new law requires a measurement period of six months each year during which the hours of employees must be tracked to determine who meets the eligibility requirements. Wawasee’s first measurement period will be from May through October this year and then an open enrollment period will be offered in November.

“We have never done this before at Wawasee,” Evans said, referring to open enrollment in November.

Added to the mix, Evans noted, is a new ruling by the IRS that requires breaks from school (spring break, fall break and others) to be included when determining the average hours worked by employees. “Under the previous guidelines, you took the total number of hours worked in a year and divided it by 12, but the IRS decided to change the rules for schools,” he said.

Superintendent Dr. Tom Edington said time clocks are being considered so employee hours can be tracked in more detail. Evans also noted the law will require detailed reports to be submitted to the IRS and “we don’t know all the details yet of what those reports will require.”

In other business, Dr. Bob Cockburn’s monthly statistical presentation involved a brief presentation on special education students. The number of special education students has risen considerably from 445 in 2007-08 to 568 during the current academic year. Preschool students are included in the number.

Wendy Hite, director of special education services, said staff members are doing a better job of identifying who needs to be classified a special needs student. She also said the poverty rate has increased, more families are moving in with other families and the number of students with autism has increased. “Students have more complex needs now,” she added.

The bulk of the special education students at Wawasee receive either speech or learning disability services, but other services are provided, Hite noted.

Also concerning special education, Wawasee was chosen to receive a $70,000 grant that will enable 81 iPad tablets to be purchased for special needs students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Also included in the grant will be access to an online library, as well as further time and training to put together transition assessments. Hite wrote the grant application.

Jon Ruiz, left, and Sara Christner, Wawasee High School students, are shown with the certificates of recognition they received during Tuesday’s school board meeting. The two are members of the Key Club, which placed first at the district convention in Bloomington in the video competition and also the Single Service Award for the Stuff the Bus project. (Photo by Tim Ashley)

Other business included a report by Joy Goshert, director of instruction and curriculum, on IREAD-3 results. IREAD-3 is a reading test given to third-graders. Of the 257 third-graders who took the test in the spring of this year, 89.5 percent passed. That is a slight increase compared to 88.1 percent passing last year. Goshert said she was particularly pleased 34 students, or 13 percent, earned perfect scores and that is an 8 percent increase from last year.

All 27 students who did not pass the test will start remediation programs the week of April 29. An after school tutoring program will take place two nights each week for the rest of the school year and continue for three hours each morning for much of June. Those students will retake the test June 25.

Goshert also told the board an attempt is being made to encourage growth in the band and orchestra programs of the school corporation. Scheduling changes will allow a music teacher to be at Milford School more often, she noted.

In his report to the board, Edington noted Wawasee still does not know the full extent of the federal sequestration. He said the sequestration is supposed to be a 10 percent cut across the board for federal programs, but it is not known yet how much the Title 1, 2 and 3 programs will be affected, as well as special education funding.

For a full account of last night’s Wawasee School Board meeting, see today’s issue of The Mail-Journal.