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The Florida Educator Health Trust keeps getting bigger.
The nonprofit health insurance trust said its board signed off on four new members at its May 21 meeting — Union, Lafayette, Gulf, and Manatee counties — bringing the trust to 23 districts and nearly 65,000 public school employees statewide.
Three of the four are small rural districts. The fourth, Manatee, is the heavyweight: a roughly 50,000-student system with about 7,000 employees, accounting for most of the headcount FLEHT has added since the spring, when it counted around 56,000.
The pitch to districts is collective purchasing power — pool enough of them together and the group can negotiate coverage on terms no single district could land alone, holding down costs without trimming employee benefits.
“The savings our districts are realizing are not theoretical,” said Ted Roush, FLEHT’s Executive Director and a former Superintendent. “We are delivering real, verified dollars back to school systems that desperately need relief from rising healthcare costs, and we are doing it without cutting a single benefit for the educators who dedicate their careers to Florida’s children.”
The trust is putting numbers behind the claim. FLEHT says member districts saved more than $7.8 million in the first quarter of 2026, and its actuarial projections estimate total savings between $31.5 million and $70.5 million across participating districts over the next five years. Districts moving off traditional insurance models can expect initial savings of 7% to 12%, the trust says, with that figure potentially climbing to 13% within one to three years.
FLEHT operates under the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and is governed by an executive committee of Superintendents, with member districts seated as voting trustees — a structure the trust argues delivers economies of scale and purchasing leverage individual districts can’t reach on their own.
It’s a fast climb. The program — formerly the FSHIP plan run by the Florida School Board Insurance Trust — moved under FADSS in April 2025 and opened last year with just three counties. The four newest members continue a recruiting run that FLEHT says is helping districts wring savings out of health spending as costs keep rising.
— Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.
The post Florida Educator Health Trust adds 4 districts, expands to nearly 65,000 employees appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
