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School board members spent half the day Tuesday digesting the data given to them about employee benefits.

Chief Financial Officer Scott Price and Chief Risk Officer Janice Sawyer briefed the board on the health and welfare benefits for LA Unified employees and retirees and also detailed potential cost-saving measures. The ideas will have to be ironed out in the current labor negotiations.

“We have a responsibility for solving a problem that seems unsolvable,” board member George McKenna said. “We have a terrific challenge.”

Here are some takeaways from the report. (And read the news story on Tuesday’s meeting here: LAUSD looks at ways of saving money by adjusting health benefits)

• Nearly half (47 percent) of the workforce is older than 50.
• The average age of an LA Unified employee is 47.
• 31,955 retirees are older than 65.
  
• Dropping benefits for dependents for all plans would save $346 million a year.
• More than a quarter (27 percent) of the money the district gets every day for each child goes to pay for health care or other employee benefits.
• 12,529 LA Unified students are covered under their parent’s health care plan paid by the district.
• It costs the district $46,000 less if a person retires at age 65 rather than at 55.
• After five years, an employee gets $9,000 in additional health, pension, and other benefits even with no raise.
• Of the five insurance plans offered by the district, most current employees opt for Kaiser. Once they retire and are older than 65, most switch to Anthem.
• Retirees live in every state in the country. Other than California, most are in Nevada and Arizona.
• Retirees live in every habitable continent except South America.

Click here for the entire report presented to the school board on Tuesday.