'Trying Not To Panic': Lyons Township High On Cost Hike

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School is looking to transfer $3.5 million to its benefits account because of a spike in employee health insurance costs this year.

The school reports it has seen an increase in the category of "high claimants." Such an employee has a medical issue that has cost the plan more than $50,000 this year.

The recent increase may be an outlier, but Brian Stachacz, the school's top finance official, said at this week's school board meeting that it could be a sign of things to come.

"When you talk about high claimants, how many of those are going to be recurring issues because there are some of those?" Stachacz said. "(This is) where you have a disease of some sort where there's no cure, but it's manageable. So you might continue to stay on the high claimant list for an extended period of time."

The school's self-insurance plan includes LADSE, a special education cooperative to which it belongs.

Because of the recent hike, the school is considering its options for insurance. Among those is a pool of 120 school districts, Stachacz said.

"I'm trying not to panic because this is one year in terms of what we've seen," he said. "Historically, this has worked out well for the district."

Stachacz also spoke about the increase in costs at a March school board meeting. He said he had not seen such a hike in his 11 years at the school.

The board is expected to vote on the $3.5 million transfer at a later meeting.