Hike In Lyons Township High Insurance Costs

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School is projected to see a 13 percent increase in benefit costs this budget year, a trend mostly driven by health insurance claims, an official said Monday.

"At least to this point, we've stayed pretty high in terms of those costs for medical claims," the school's top finance official, Brian Stachacz, told the school board.

In his 11 years at the high school, Stachacz said he has not seen this type of increase in insurance costs. Benefit spending is expected to rise to $12.4 million this year.

The high school is self-insured, meaning it must come up with the money to cover claims.

"The question becomes, is this an outlier year? I suspect it probably will be when it's all said and done," Stachacz said. "It's something we're going to keep an eye on, especially for the rest of the year."

Stachacz spoke about healthcare spending during his presentation on the five-year financial forecast.

His report indicated that the school would have $70 million in the bank at the end of the budget year, which is June 30.

Board member Michael Thomas questioned the number, noting the board planned to spend millions of the balance on building projects.

Stachacz said Thomas was correct. He said the board was planning to dip into its accounts for $18.5 million over the next two years for the construction work.

But he said the presentation was focused on operating spending and that the money for the projects was not truly part of those expenditures.

Thomas asked Stachacz to include a notation about the plan to use money from the accounts for the projects.

"If someone were to come in and not know that explanation, they would think there is $70 million that we have going forward if there's not a notation somewhere," Thomas said.

Stachacz said he could add a notation.

Thomas also raised the possibility that $1.5 million in federal money for special education and low-income programs may go away. He was referring to the Trump administration's plan to close the Department of Education.

Superintendent Brian Waterman said the school would do "everything we could to make recommendations that did not impact student programming."

Stachacz added, "I'm hopeful that even if the Department of Education goes away, the funding will remain. Obviously, no one knows that."