School Board Speculates Staff Spouses' Insurance

SOUTH WHITLEY-Wednesday night’s school board meeting at South Whitley Elementary began at 4:30 instead of the usual 4:00, which Whitko had updated on the official Facebook page two days prior. The calendar on the school’s website still incorrectly listed 4:00 and a location of the Whitko Career Academy, which may have contributed to the low turnout.

Whitko School Board Members Annette Arnold, Scott Werstler, Georgia Tenney, Deb Thomas and Lynn Studebaker.Photo byWhitko.org

Business discussed included a tax increment financing levy, a change to bus driver benefits, and an increase to pay scales for non-certified employees (custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, etc.), but the bulk of the time was devoted to discussing options for health insurance policy changes. Whitko expects premiums to rise by 21% in 2024 due to large amounts of spouse claims. According to the gentleman presenting, that rate would only rise 9% if Whitko were to stop providing healthcare coverage for spouses, something that they are not legally required to provide. This would affect twenty-five people.

Another option he suggested was to only provide benefits for spouses that had no coverage available already through their own employer. Though this option would not change the premium costs immediately, it is presumed that discontinuing benefits for a number of people would decrease the number of claims and thus lower the cost in the future. The last option he suggested was to continue providing benefits to Whitko spouses, but have them pay more.

The general consensus was that no one wanted to deny anyone health insurance entirely, with Superintendent Tim Pavanik calling that option, “inhumane.” Member Annette Arnold and Pavanik discussed that many employers are no longer covering spouses, or are at least only covering spouses that do not have coverage of their own. The guest discussing insurance mentioned that many affected would be eligible for Medicare and that if they would seek that coverage, it would help the school’s situation, but he also admitted that outright suggesting that to those people directly would violate HIPAA. Member Scott Werstler suggested an open announcement about Medicare as a healthcare option, so as to avoid any violations, but the guest said that emails, mailers, and webinars attempting to cover the issue have been largely ignored so far. It was suggested that an agreement should be reached within a month so that if new coverage would be needed for 2024 by anyone, they could have time to seek it.

Lynn Leininger discussed an implementation of PERF for bus drivers, something many other schools already use, which would allow drivers to collect benefits sooner. He mentioned a $1-$2 pay increase across the board for non-certified employees, and Leininger informed those present that since the school corporation has already agreed to cover the 21% increase for the teachers for 2024 and split 2025, it would be best to avoid any fallout over cutting spouse coverage by just paying it and keeping things unchanged for 2024.

As the school board member appointed to the South Whitley Redevelopment Commission, Arnold mentioned a potential tax increment financing (TIF) levy, explaining that Whitko’s operating costs are not covered by property taxes, so funding is received from the state. A TIF would be money that the school would pay towards helping reduce the number of blighted homes in the area, which would then make living in the Whitko district more appealing, bringing in more tax dollars to help raise the amount of funding to the school while improving the region.

Dates to remember included Pierceton Elementary’s Veteran’s Day program on November 10 from 9am to 10am and South Whitley Elementary’s Veteran’s Day parade, which begins November 10 at 12:45pm. There will be line dancing in the Ag Barn on November 10 at 6pm, with the cost of admission being canned goods. The next regular School Board meeting will be Monday, November 20 at 6:30pm in the Career Academy Lecture Room.