District's Health Insurance Costs May Rise 29%

The hits just keep on coming.

In a year when budget woes are squeezing an already tight budget, the district received more bad news when school board member Jeff Reaves announced at Thursday’s board meeting that the budget is taking another hit—a 29 percent hike in health insurance premiums when the budget only calls for a 15 percent increase.

Reaves said the school district will be soliciting more quotes from other providers, and then they may use those quotes to bargain.

“We already have been scrambling,” he said.

The impact of that unexpected increase on the budget is unknown, business administrator Philip Acosta said.

The news of the health premium increase came on a night when the school board was formalizing its previously discussed reductions in staff to meet the state mandated budget cap of 2 percent.

Those cuts included the elimination of the family consumer science teacher and reducing the hours of five other positions. A part-time school nurse is being reduced from 0.7 of a full-time position to 0.2; a world language teacher from 0.9 to 0.6; supervisor of student services from 1.0 to 0.6; school psychologist from 1.0 to 0.8; and learning disabilities consultant from 1.0 to 0.8.

Superintendent of Schools Carolyn Koos said no decision has been made on the future of the district's gifted and talented program, which was also facing the possibility of cuts. She said a decision will be made by June 1.