ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — On Tuesday, a hotly-debated proposal on teacher insurance premiums will be taken up by the Orange County School Board. Due to rising costs, the district is looking to increase premiums for some teachers, however the local teachers union is not on board.

What You Need To Know

  • According to the district, making no changes to benefit plans would result in a cost of $65 million to the school system, which is self-insured

  • Under the proposal, premiums for employee-only coverage would increase between $0 to $646 a year

  • However, according to the Classroom Teachers Association, current employees who have family members on their plan could see an increase of $1,325 to $3,459 a year

  • Though insurance premiums will rise for some teachers under the proposal, the district is also raising salaries an average of 9%

Union representatives have expressed frustration over the fact that the meeting will take place during school hours when teachers are unable to attend. While the hearing will not have public comment, union representatives say their attendance alone is important.

“The teachers are saying the mere presence of hundreds of people in the room wearing red (the union’s color) says a lot without having to go to a microphone,” said Clinton McCracken, President of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association (CTA). “It could influence their decision. They’re having to look at the teachers while they’re considering increasing their insurance by such a drastic amount.”

With an estimated $65 million increase in costs, the district is proposing an insurance plan which would increase premiums for some teachers.

“Keeping up with surging health care costs is simply not sustainable for our self-insured status,” said Superintendent Dr. Maria Vazquez in a press conference in February.

The district is still offering a no-cost plan, and they say premiums for employee coverage will increase by $646 a year at most.

However, the CTA says this doesn’t account for those with families. Information provided by the CTA states that current employees on a family plan could see an increase of $1,325 to $3,459 a year. Those costs would be more for new employees.

“That’s pretty difficult to consider, especially when we’re trying to recruit teachers to come to OCPS. We have empty — we have vacant positions,” said McCracken.

While the insurance proposal faces push back, the CTA and district have come to an agreement on new salary raises.

The school district is offering an average of $5,400 more a year on each employee’s paycheck.

“This is the largest salary offer ever in the history of Orange County Public Schools, representing a $103 million investment in our teachers,” said Dr. Vasquez.

McCracken says he’s pleased to see some of the new measures in the salary offer, which is calculating raises based on a percent increase rather than a flat rate.

“Their original proposal was a flat amount again, which they have paid for years, and that created wage compression for our teachers,” said McCracken. “Our experienced teachers are barely making more than a beginning teacher.”

While the district says the historic salary increase will offset the costs of the proposed insurance plan, McCracken says there are some employees who, without an evaluation, will be getting as little as a 2% raise. However, the average raise across the district will be 9%.

As for the insurance proposal, Tuesday’s 9:30 am hearing will take place at the district’s main office on Amelia Street.