Washington school board balks at family insurance price, effect

WASHINGTON — Members of the Washington school board took no action on a plan to add family insurance coverage for district administrators, effectively bringing new-hire incentive proposals back to the drawing board at a meeting on Wednesday.

Superintendent Willie Stone said the district was legally advised against picking and choosing which administrators received the benefit, and that the high price tag would require a gradual rollout of family insurance stipends at 10-20% per year.

Implementing family insurance in-full for all 10 administrator positions at once would run the district $150,000 per year, money Stone said would overburden the district’s unspent annual budget.

“It would start dropping us at a faster rate than we would be able to control,” he said.

Decision-makers were skeptical of the gradual approach. Board President Troy Suchan said the slow implementation would make it a poor incentive.

“I want to be competitive; this doesn’t make us competitive,” he said. “If I was a potential applicant, and that’s what you came at me with, that really isn’t going to affect my decision one way or the other, to be honest … people want instant gratification, and you’re talking to them about way off.”

Board Member Eric Turner said he was also opposed to the insurance-based incentive for job applicants.

“I am supportive of needing to be competitive, I just feel like there’s some other ways we could do that,” he said. “Similar to what we do with certain teachers and certain positions having a sign-on bonus, changing the salary.”

While some district officials said family insurance would help with staff retention, others said there were too many other factors at play. Stone said workplace relationships, culture, family pull factors, property ownership and career mobility each had a higher impact on staff decisions to stick around from one year to the next.

Turner said that made benefits a moot point.

“I think family insurance is not going to hurt, but I don’t think it’s that big of an attraction for someone to stay here,” he said.

With family insurance off the table for lack of a motion, district officials said they would look into other hiring incentives as the schools report high applicant numbers but low candidate experience for open principal and director positions.

“We need some other ideas,” Board Member Mindi Rees said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com