School district raises benefits for employees

By MEGHAN BRADBURY news@breezenewspapers com

School District of Lee County emplo ees will have more money in their pay check, thanks to the Lee County School Board paying the employee’s base plan entire cost, while adding an additional $4,000 for dependent care

I n s u r a n c e a n d B e n e f i t s M a n a g e m e n t D i r e c t o r B o n n i e M c F a r l a n d s a i d i n p r e s e n t a t i o n d a t e d o n J u l y 2 5 t h e b o t t o l i n e s h o w e d t h a t t h e d i s t r i c t h a d t h e l o t o t a l p r e m i u m f o r i n s u r a n c e o u t o f g m e n t a l i n s u r a n c e s , a s w e l l a s t h e l o w e s t e m p l o y e r c o n t r i b u t i o n a n d t h e h i g h e s t e m p l o y e e c o s t f o r i n s u ra n c e

“Changes have begun,” she said, adding that the board contribution has increased

That increase went from $8,104 80 to $9,213 60, p l u s $ 4 , 0 0 0 8 0 f o r d e p e n d e n t s u b s i d y , e q u a l i n g $13,214 40 for those who have dependent coverage McFarland said that more than $13,000 goes towards the entire coverage on an annual basis

According to a press release, employees pay just $26 a month for a higher plan That increases to $41 21 when adding children to a plan a month for the base plan, or $83.76 a month for a higher plan.

The presentation broke down the employee savings based on the three different plans The employee savings per paycheck ranged from $114 50 to $318 05

“We are making significant progress in the realm where other employees are,” McFarland said Superintendent Dr Christopher Bernier said the board did a fabulous job in not only raising the amount of for employer contributions, but took care dditional costs associated with medical flation

“Compensation package, it doesn’t always come in a straight raise This is a legitimate money in a person’s pocket they can utilize,” he said.

With the new employer contribution, the district surpasses Broward County with employee only and family funding at ,919 60 The district comes closer to County with employee only and family g at $9,288; Collier County with an employee only and family funding at $9,681; and Orange County with employee only and family funding at $9,288 60

Although Hillsborough County and Pinellas County have lower employee only funding at $7,934 and $

As far as other Lee governmental entities, the district s t

McFarland said

She said through PeopleSoft, employees have the option to purchase different insurances, which will be calculated on the fly to show how much they would spend out of pocket based on a selected plan

“You can do that as often as you would like in the open enrollment period,” McFarland said.

The district is entering the Invitation to Negotiate for the 2024 open enrollment for medical, dental, vision and disability short-term and long-term insurance; group legal plan and employee assistance program

McFarland said when they go to the market there will be a request to match current plan designs; proposed enhancements to current plan designs and to propose alternative plan designs There will also be a medical insurance request for self-insured, fully-insured, prescription carve-in and carve-out options

The carve-in and carve-out plans provide an option to mix and match a medical plan with a prescription plan. McFarland said they can take those two and make a plan for the district

32 employee only funding and $13,823 for family funding; Florida Gulf Coast University has a $9,161 98 for employee only funding and $20,252 40 for family funding; Lee Government has $13,908 for employee only funding and $21,960 for family funding; and the Lee County’s Sheriff Office has $10,064 04 for employee only funding and $20,707 92 for family funding

McFarland said open enrollment for 2023 ends on Feb 10 She said only 25 percent of the district’s employees have completed their selections

The Invitation to Negotiate process will ultimately end with open enrollment 2024 She said the options will be brought before the board to vote upon in September or October

“This is sort of a promise made and a promise kept,” Bernier said “This is a complicated issue, the market in which we shop our insurance ”

Board Member Chris Patricca said the district has difficulty in how it shops its insurance because the market is so limited due to the structure of Lee Health.

“It does make it tremendously difficult to get real competition in Lee County because of the structure of Lee Health,” she said