The addition of family health insurance coverage for administrators was discussed by the Washington School Board at their regular meeting held Wednesday. 

Superintendent Willie Stone laid out the reasoning for the potential change, “The reason why we are looking at it is the industry standard for administrators, whether it be right or wrong, is to have family insurance. Probably 95% have and 5% do not.”   

Board member Jim Almelien stated his disagreement with the recommendation, “Well, it’s sort of a hard one, we don’t give everybody the raises, and you are looking at $20,000 a year on this. That doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. When we are looking at it, we don’t know what the state is going to do with our budget. I’m all for raises, but you are asking other people here who haven’t gotten a raise to give a few people a lot of money. That doesn’t make sense guys.”   

The discussion went to the idea of a hiring bonus to offset the cost of family insurance for new hires, as well as talks about phasing in the change with a conversation by the board with administrative staff. The main focus would be for new hires, with the hopes of not eliminating candidates by not having the family insurance option, which Stone stated was a reason for a previous candidate’s decline of a position. 

Superintendent Stone will be meeting with multiple insurance companies to compare costs. Discussions will continue on the subject at the next meeting scheduled for February 11th. The district currently has 11 administrative positions.