District 204 Administrators to Share Cost of Health Care

The Board of Education announced Thursday that in January 2012 it will require administrators to share the cost of health care.

The board shared the information in an e-mail to the school community. The e-mail, signed by all of the board members, stated that currently administrators receive health care coverage at no additional cost, but to create consistency among the district’s four employee groups and to stay in line with the district’s taxpayers, administrators would be required to share the costs.

Starting in the New Year, administrators will be responsible for the same share of expenses as the other three employee groups in the district, the message said.

“Because administrator compensation is already below market, it is vitally important that we make this adjustment in a fair and reasonable manner. We believe doing otherwise would jeopardize our ability to attract and retain high caliber administrators and lead to lesser outcomes for our students,” the board said in its e-mail.

The board of education said it realizes the district’s administrators are paid below the market rate, so it has agreed to increase the average administrator's 2011-12 net salary by 0.92 percent —comprised of a 2.88 percent salary increase, off-set by 1.96 percent in health care costs— according to the board. The increase follows a pay freeze to administrators in 2010-11.