CECHCR was formed in 2005 through a grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in response to escalating health care costs and the devastating impact they are having on the public education sector. Beginning in June 2007, funding was provided by The California Endowment, California HealthCare Foundation and CECHCR member organizations.

CECHCR has been remarkably successful in achieving its educational mission: helping school districts and their unions work effectively together to save money and implement best practices in how they handle the complexity of health benefits issues.  Labor and management statewide organizations set the example of working well together as the CECHCR coalition and inspired hundreds of local district/union groups to do the same. 

CECHCR was also instrumental in calling attention to practices in the insurance industry where districts were receiving biased information that resulted in financial gain for those handing out the advice.  Because CECHCR is scrupulously neutral and takes no money from insurance companies, it has become a trusted source of health benefits financial information.  Through its Second Opinion program, CECHCR has been able to save districts and employees well in excess of $100 million.

Currently, the CECHCR landscape has changed and the forces that led to CECHCR’s formation (serious financial crises in public education, combined with consistent double-digit premium increase for health insurance) have now abated.  Nonetheless, health industry practices and the fact that health care costs continue to rise at a rate much greater than inflation, create the necessity for continuing education and support services for public education Health Benefits Committees. 

We hope that you will join us in working towards improving the quality and reducing the cost of health care for all school employers and employees in California’s public schools and community colleges. We welcome your input and suggestions. For further information, or to request training or CECHCR services, email Kim Settle, CECHCR Program Services Administrator, or call her at (916) 567-9911, ext. 18.

CECHCR is an initiative of the non-profit Center for Collaborative Solutions (CCS).