Gilroy
– The school district’s non-teaching employees settled their
contract for last school year, and agreed on benefits for this
year.
As part of the contract, about 230 classified employees
– including secretaries, custodians, bus drivers and food
service workers – agreed to a cap on health and welfare benefits at
each of the three levels of coverage available.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – The school district’s non-teaching employees settled their contract for last school year, and agreed on benefits for this year.
As part of the contract, about 230 classified employees – including secretaries, custodians, bus drivers and food service workers – agreed to a cap on health and welfare benefits at each of the three levels of coverage available.
Gilroy Unified School District officials have said switching to the so-called three-tiered medical plan is the only way the district can continue to pay its employees’ benefits amidst rapidly rising insurance costs. Some premiums are increasing by as much as 30 percent.
The three-tiered plan means the district pays for the Kaiser Permanente single, couple, and family rates instead of paying up to the family rate for everyone.
Where the district used to pay up to $666 per month toward health benefits for each full-time classified employee, it will now pay up to $310 for single employees, $620 for two-party coverage and $800 for family of four coverage.
A similar proposal was tentatively broached during budget reductions last year, to some resistance from the teachers’ unions.
The classified employees’ contract, which was ratified by the school board during its regular Sept. 16 meeting, includes no salary increase for the 2003-04 school year.
