Team Fort Osage met for the second time this year on December 8. Topics of discussion included the budget, Career Ladder, health insurance, salary and benefits summary document, classified staff and teacher salary studies, 2023-2024 calendar, Superintendent Advisory Committees, wellness program, and student behaviors (information provided below on each). Budget I am beginning to prepare for the fiscal year 2024 budget that begins July 1, 2023. A big factor in the District’s local revenue is the assessed valuation. Every two years the county reassesses property and will begin this process in January. There is speculation that the legislature may attempt to cap the increase of assessments which would have a negative impact on our future revenues. Further, the one billion dollar tax cut that legislators approved in September will also impact the state’s budget. The District’s access to ESSER funds will end in fiscal year 2024. There are currently 283 employees participating in Career Ladder. Keep in mind the District pays for 40% of Career Ladder costs while the state pays for 60%. If all staff members meet the level they signed up for, the District’s cost would be approximately $550,000. Health insurance continues to be a major expenditure for the District as last year's cost reached $6.2 million. Beginning January 1, 2023 the District’s contribution will increase from $710 per month to $781 per month. The District’s stop loss (reinsurance for claims over a certain threshold) for each claim will increase from $175,000 to $225,000 which will save approximately $250,000. This money will be used to pay claims and will not impact an individual's health insurance plan. Career Ladder We are seeing positive outcomes for students based on the implementation of Career Ladder. There have been a number of clubs, tutoring opportunities and activities that have been helping meet students’ needs. This spring we will ask for feedback on ways to improve the Career Ladder process. Health Insurance The medical claims are being monitored as health insurance continues to be a large expense for the District. Three of the four plans that are offered to staff are District paid with two of the four plans offering a Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution. The District’s HSA contribution continues to be one of the best in the metro at $74.90 and $124.42 respectively depending on the plan selected. Salary and Benefits Summary Through conversations with staff members, it was suggested that it would be beneficial for the District to provide employees with a summary of their annual salary and benefits. Although this information can be found in the Employee Access Center, I agreed it would be helpful to receive this information in an easy to read format. In the coming days each regularly scheduled District employee will receive a salary and benefits summary in the mail. The document summarizes the salary and benefit contributions paid by the District. Moving forward our plan is to send this document annually each summer to employees. Salary Studies We are currently conducting classified and teacher salary studies to determine Fort Osage’s competitiveness as compared to area school districts. Seven larger and seven smaller districts were selected based on where Fort Osage employees have historically migrated to and from most frequently. After the information is collected the data will be evaluated to determine where improvements can be made. Below is a list of the school districts utilized in the study. 2023-2024 calendar The District has received feedback from employee surveys, parent surveys, Fort Forward, Team Fort Osage, and schools who attend Fort Osage’s Career and Technology Center. Based on this feedback, two drafts will be sent to employees for additional input in the next few weeks. After the feedback is received, it is my goal to make a recommendation to the Board of Education in January. Superintendent Advisory Committees In order to receive additional feedback from staff, the superintendent advisory committees were formed this year. The committee meetings have been extremely beneficial for me to have dialog about various topics impacting the students and staff. I appreciate the committee members taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with me and I look forward to the upcoming meetings during the second semester. Wellness Program We have a new wellness coordinator, Jenny Flax, who will help engage us in health and wellness programming. Wellbeing Champions are being established at each building or department and will begin meeting in January to provide input on activities, events and support our staff needs. We are working to have an event calendar with onsite events, an updated website with all relevant resources and clear communication regarding our Wellness program next semester. Student Behaviors We continue to have conversations and look at ways to provide additional support for staff regarding challenging student behaviors. We are reviewing current programming as well as analyzing student behavior data, student numbers in current behavior programs and input from surveys and stakeholder groups to inform future programming. Comments are closed.
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