Meeting also held with representatives from CHP to discuss 8.9% increase; school board vows to cover cost for employees

By WILLIAM SNOWDEN
Editor

At a budget workshop last week, school board members heard that the district appears on the verge of meeting the state-required starting teacher salary of $47,500.

That means the district would be freed from state constraints to allow pay raises for veteran teachers.
Other budget recommendations include pay raises for all staff, including non-instructional personnel; and increasing the district’s share of insurance to cover the proposed 8.9% increase from Capital Health Plan.
Overall, it means a proposed increase of $2,000 to teachers and no cost of insurance increase.
“This is a really good year,” said Assistant Superintendent Rick Myhre at the workshop held on Thursday, July 18.
School Board Chair Cale Langston added that “What’s proposed here is nothing less than miraculous.”
Myhre noted that of 340 teaching positions, all but seven are filled – representing a 98% rate. He commented that this year Wakulla is not facing a teacher shortage.
At the workshop, the school board also heard from Kevin Vaughn of HUB International Insurance, which brokers coverage, and representatives from CHP. It was announced that insurance in the nine-county area was increasing from 8.4% to 9.8%, with the district seeing an 8.9% increase.
Asked why Wakulla County government was seeing an 8.4% increase while school district employees faced a higher increase, the representatives said it was because of the difference in rich benefit plans and the demographics of single vs. family coverage.
School board member Melisa Taylor noted that, in the past, not all employees took health insurance, so there was a push for a salary increase.
That was echoed by school board member Josh Brown who said that the teachers union wanted more money for salary, not insurance.
A handful of teachers attended the workshop and were positive in their comments praising the school board for the informative meeting.