Abilene ISD wrestling with health insurance cost increases in building next budget

Abilene Reporter-News (TX)

July 22--Abilene Independent School District officials are making progress building a budget for the 2016-17 school year, though there's some building concern over health insurance costs.

According to Melissa Irby, the district's executive director of finance, Abilene ISD provides each of its employees with $410 per month pretax to assist with health insurance costs associated with the district's participation in the state's Teacher Retirement System's ActiveCare plans.

While the budget for next year is being developed, Irby said the school board has requested information detailing what an increase would cost.

"The school board has discussed bumping the number up to $425 per employee," Irby said. "They want to know how much extra that would cost if we made the increase."

Leaving TRS's ActiveCare would take an act of the Legislature, which is not in session. Districts were not permitted an out once enrolled in the public system created in 2002 by the 77th Legislature.

It means any district enrolled in the program, like Abilene, can only provide employees options from ActiveCare. Other districts, like Midland and Amarillo ISDs, never opted in to the system and are self-insured, Irby said.

Texas law requires districts provide at least $225 per month to employees for insurance assistance, Irby said.

Irby said the plan the employees choose will determine how much of an increase the individual or family will be responsible for paying, with or without an increase from the board in monthly assistance. About 35 percent of employees enrolled in TRS, Irby said, are in the HMO single plan, which will see premiums increase almost $54 per month to $472.50 before district assistance.

Meanwhile, the employee and spouse plan under the HMO will increase almost $130 per month to $1,180.50 per month before district assistance.

While debating health insurance costs, administrators are also crunching numbers trying to provide for elementary school assistant principals and provide a new teacher pay scale, Irby said.

Currently, Irby is projecting about a $1.3 million budget shortfall with many of the increases in pay built in, though those are optional and not yet recommended. Without the increases, which include both pay scale changes for employees and a change to the stipends for roles like sports coaching, Irby said the district would be about $1.7 million in the black.

Irby said administrators will propose the school board adopt its teacher pay scale option in the next couple weeks, with full budget adoption expected Aug. 29.

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