VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A special meeting was held on Wednesday night at the school administration building to address a significant increase in health insurance premiums for school employees.
Based on the presentation, staff members will need to prepare for these changes beginning in January.
During the meeting, officials discussed the "sticker shock" associated with rising health care costs for school staff.
Conversations about these increasing costs began earlier this year and continued through the summer. School superintendent Dr. Donald Robertson was not informed of the finalized future rates until the end of July.
Roberston said they don't normally see what the final projection from Mercer until the middle of the summer.
“I’ve been in the division for 37 years. I found out my health care costs when I got my benefits package at the end of September every year, right before open enrollment,” said Dr. Robertson. “I did not want that to happen to staff because I knew they were going to need time to figure out what this means to them.”
For some employees, the increase will range from $33 to over $200 per paycheck, which is a significant amount for many families.
Dr. Robertson acknowledged this challenge.
“Absolutely, we sent a message to staff on August 7 and again, with hindsight, that wasn’t enough,” Robertson said when asked if more could have been done to inform staff
Heather Sipe of the Virginia Beach Education Association expressed concerns about the timing of the announcement.
“It feels like we are on a time crunch that now feels impossible,” Sipe said.
Sipe noted that the August announcement placed teachers and staff at a disadvantage.
“July 1 is the cutoff for staff to be able to go to other divisions in our area without penalty, and this information was kept until August,” she added.
A lawsuit has been filed against the school superintendent by Tim Anderson, a candidate for Virginia House District 97.
Following the meeting, Anderson reaffirmed the validity of his lawsuit.
“They knew back in March this was going to happen,” Anderson said. “Now, they may not have known exactly how much regular premiums should have increased, but they knew they weren’t going to fund that $10 million to subsidize the health care of employees.”
Going forward, Dr. Robertson indicated that he and the school board would likely explore options to assist staff with the increased costs in the upcoming months, such as a possible stipend.
Although it would still need to be determined where that money could come from.
News 3 will continue to follow this story as it develops.
