In the Jenison Public Schools, the district projects a $5 million deficit for the 2010-11 school year. Yet, its 310 employees don’t contribute to its health care costs.

State Representative Dave Agema, R-Grandville, is hoping to change that. Agema said he plans to introduce a bill as early as Thursday that would require all public school employees to pay 15 percent of their health care bill.

According to the Mackinac Center For Public Policy, school employees received $1.936 billion in insurance benefits for the 2007-08 school year.

At Jenison, Superintendent Tom TenBrink says the districts pays about $15,000 for each of the 216 teachers’ health care coverage.

Health care coverage for school districts vary from district to district. Some public school employees pay as much as 10 percent. In Agema’s plan, they’d have to increase that to 15 percent.

Agema said his bill would make the union negotiations a lot simpler.

“It takes it out of the hands of the principals,” Agema said. “They don’t have to bargain for it. It’s a done deal. … It’s not a good thing. I don’t like government mandates. The schools are a little bit out of touch with what is going on with the economy.”

A week ago, Agema wrote in an e-mail: “Public employees do receive significantly better benefits than their taxpayers. We are a poor state with a rich man’s mentality. When they say it’s about the kids, they really mean it’s about their pay and benefits. Teachers are very important; however, what is going on is not sustainable.“

Kerry Birmingham, a Michigan Education Association spokeswoman, said school employees have made sacrifices throughout the state.

“MEA members have saved the state $700 million dollars in health insurance concessions in the past three years—though local negotiations that would not be possible in a statewide system of all public employees,” Birmingham wrote in an e-mail. “Just like lots of people across Michigan, many teachers and support staff across the state are paying more in deductibles and co-pays, more for their prescriptions and a higher percentage of their health care premiums. We understand that many employees in the private sector across our state are making similar sacrifices and we empathize.

“But as we once again see politicians and would-be pundits try to balance the budget on the backs of public employees, we see no acknowledgement of our shared sacrifice, and no mention of how we have saved taxpayers millions.”