Jackson Schools Insurance Costs Increasing

Jackson County Board of Education will take on more of the increase on health insurance premiums for teachers and staff.

Jackson County Director of Schools Jason Hardy said the insurance premiums have increased by six percent. Hardy said the increase will fall on the school system and not on the employees.

“We looked at every plan,” Hardy said. “We went through it and came up with a plan that would kind of mitigate the best we could that would fit our budget to soften the blow that would go to our employees. I know moving forward this is something I want to work on and do even a better job.”

Hardy said the school system will remain with the same insurance company that the school system is already using through the state and will still offer the same insurance packages to employees. Hardy said the budget will not be drastically impacted as the board had prepared ahead of time.

“We were prepared for it,” Hardy said. “Each year we look for ways that we want to help our teachers whether that be in a raise and we did give a significant raise across the board this year, so this is something that we try to plan for.”

Hardy said he believes covering the extra costs will keep teachers and also attract new teachers.

“We know we have to compete in a climate of today’s age where there are not as many teachers,” Hardy said. “We had to look out for employees and we do the best we can with what we have no matter where we are at we are always going to look to do better.”

Hardy said insurance premiums have gone up every year for the past several years. Hardy said he hopes the premiums will stop increasing but regardless he will always plan for an increase every year.