To All Bedford School District Community Members,
Tuesday, February 7 is an important date for the citizens of Bedford. It is an opportunity to participate directly in the governance of our school system.
At 7:00 pm, all registered voters in Bedford are invited to participate in the Bedford School District Deliberative Session, which is held in the Bedford High School Theater.
At the Deliberative Session, voters decide whether to make any changes to the Bedford School Board's Warrant. The Warrant includes the proposed operating budget for next year and the contracts with professional staff, school support staff, and custodians. The Board is recommending a "yes" vote on all of these articles.
I look forward to seeing you there. I have provided some background information below and the entire set of budget documents can be found at this link.
Sincerely,
Chip McGee
Proposed Operating Budget for Next Year
The School Board’s direction for the budget was to maintain the district’s high standards but not to add any new programs. The proposed operating budget is $71.2 million for the 2017-18 school year. This is up $2.2 million (or 3.2%) compared to the 2016-17 operating budget. There are three primary reasons.
- Health insurance premiums are projected to increase by $1.8 million (19.7%).
- New Hampshire Retirement System employer contributions are projected to increase by over $500,000.
- Special education services are projected to increase by over $400,000.
The three budget drivers total $2.7 million in increases.
The proposed budget increase of $2.2 million is lower than the total of these three drivers. This is a result of the Board’s efforts to take a frugal approach to the rest of the budget. The School Board reviewed the budget presented by the Superintendent and made some changes. They deferred some capital maintenance plans, cut some of the Superintendent’s proposals, and made changes to staffing and benefits for non-union support and administrative staff. In total, the Board’s actions lowered the Superintendent’s original budget by $1.3 million.
Even with these actions, the projected tax impact of the School Board’s proposed budget is $1.17 per thousand. This increase is due almost entirely to those three drivers.
In case the proposed budget is voted down, the Board also develops a “default budget.” The default budget is calculated based on the previous year’s budget with certain adjustments. The default budget is $560,408 lower than the proposed budget.
Changing Our Health Insurance Approach For Our Employees
Health insurance is our largest budget driver this year. All three of our employee groups (teachers, paraprofessionals,and custodians) accepted significant changes in their health insurance plans to get to agreement this year. The changes include certain consumer-driven strategies.
- Reference Pricing: The district will pay a fixed percentage of the consumer-driven plan. If an employee wished to stay on their current plan, it is the employee who has to pay the entire difference in cost between the less expensive plan and their current plan.
- Site of Service: The primary plan being offered will direct employees to specific providers that have a track record of high quality and offer lower costs for certain high cost items.
- Deductibles: The primary plan offered has a deductible, which encourages the employee to think like a consumer.
- Health Reimbursement Arrangement: For certain lower wage employees, the district has offered an arrangement where the district “self-insures” to share 50% of an employee’s deductible expenditures.
These are significant concessions from the employee groups. In total, this would shift $2.4 million in annual premium costs back onto the employee. This will work if all three agreements can pass.
Agreement with Professional Staff
This proposed agreement is with the Bedford Education Association (BEA) which represents teachers and other professional educators. The agreement is for two years.
- 2017-18 - Net salary (salary minus the employee contribution towards health insurance premiums) would increase by an average of 4.0% (or $2,295).
- 2018-19 - We do not know the increase in the employee contribution towards health insurance premiums for 2018-19. Salary increases would be $400 plus a step.
- Employees have agreed to the changes in health insurance explained above.
The projected cost of this Article is $1.2 million for 2017-18. The tax impact in 2017-18 would be $0.36 per thousand.
Agreement with Custodial Staff
This proposed agreement is with the Bedford Education Support Staff Association (BESSA) which represents custodians and maintenance staff. The agreement is for three years.
- 2017-18 - Wages would increase by $1.00 per hour.
- 2018-19 - Wages would increase by $0.75 per hour.
- 2019-20 - Wages would increase by $0.65 per hour.
- Employees have agreed to the changes in health insurance explained above.
The projected impact of this article would be a budget reduction of $8,155 in 2017-18. The projected tax impact in 2017-18 is less than $0.01..
Agreement with Support Staff
This proposed agreement is with the Bedford Education Personnel Association (BEPA) which represents paraprofessionals, school secretaries and clerks, and food service workers. This agreement is for three years.
- 2017-18 - wages would increase $1.00 per hour.
- 2018-19 - wages would increase $0.75 per hour.
- 2019-20 - wages would increase $0.65 per hour.
- Employees have agreed to the changes in health insurance explained above.
The projected impact would be a budget reduction of $368,454 in 2017-18. The projected tax impact in 2017-18 would be a reduction of $0.11 per thousand.
