The Montana School Boards Association has long been a pioneer in piloting money saving programs for the primary convenience of its members. We started in the early 1980's with the creation of a self-funded health trust that eventually evolved into the Montana Unified School Trust. MUST Board members include MTSBA Directors Darrell Sackman of Glendive and Mary Schelle of Lewistown.
MUST is now served by the Montana School Services Foundation, an organization sponsored by MTSBA, School Administrators of Montana (SAM) and MEA-MFT.
MTSBA also created the Workers' Compensation Risk Retention Pool (WCRRP) in 1989, led by then-MTSBA president Gary Griffith. Today, WCRRP is administered by MTSBA and Governed by the Montana Schools Group Insurance Authority (MSGIA). Gail Barnhart, a trustee from Dillion and a member of the MTSBA Board of Directors, serves as a member of the MSGIA Board. The Board also includes past MTSBA board members Gary Griffith of Monforton and Rich Stuker of Chinook.
Our Workers' Compensation Program is the largest self-funded program in the state, and is led by our Director of Insurance Services Shawn Bubb.
MTSBA created the Montana Schools Unemployment Insurance Program (MSUIP) in 1994 in collaboration with the Montana Association of School Business Officials (MASBO). We administer the MSUIP program through a contract with MASBO. MSUIP Board members include MTSBA Director Barb Riley, a trustee in Columbia Falls, and Debra Silk, MTSBA's General Counsel.
The common thread running through each of these programs is governance by school officials, including elected trustees and members of the MTSBA Board of Directors. MTSBA and the board members of these programs understand that savings in these areas frees up valuable resources to focus on quality education for our state's children. Our knowledge of Montana school issues, our depth of insurance experience, and our high service commitment to our members produces consistent long-term cost savings for members, typically in excess of the annual cost of dues!