LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

 Ruston, Louisiana

 

REGULAR SESSION

 Tuesday, November 1, 2022   6:00 p.m.

 

                        The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, 410 S. Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Ms. Lisa Best, Ms. Donna Doss, Mr. David Ferguson, Mr. Danny Hancock, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Hunter Smith, and Ms. Susan Wiley.

                        Mr. Clark Canterbury and Ms. Lynda Henderson were absent.   

 

President Mitcham called the meeting to order and welcomed guests. Ms. Doss gave the invocation and Mr. Smith led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. 

 

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.  

 

Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on October 4, 2022, as printed. 

 

Juanita Duke, Chief Financial Officer, reminded the Board that in March 2021, permission was granted to request proposals to seek out a new business office financial and payroll system software. School Board staff participated in visits with other school districts prior to developing and soliciting proposals in August 2022. The Request for Proposal (RFP) was a joint collaboration with four other school systems in the current Computer Consortium. Proposals were received and software demonstrations were presented to all five participating school districts and their staff by the top two proposers.

 

Ms. Duke reported that the estimated one-time cost of implementation and conversion is estimated to be $250,000 to $280,000, and the annual renewal cost of services is estimated to be $87,000, subject to further negotiations.  

 

After review of the proposals, LPSB administration is recommending awarding the contract, for subscription and implementation of the Munis financial software system, to Tyler Technologies for the proposed 3-year term.              

 

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Wiley, the Board unanimously voted to award the proposal request to Tyler Technologies, authorize the Superintendent to further negotiate the contract terms with Tyler Technologies, and sign the agreement after review by legal counsel.

 

David Charpentier, VP of Brown & Brown Insurance, stated that a favorable insurance renewal had been secured for 2023. The claims administrative cost renewal increased 6.6% largely due to federal government mandates; however, a 3-year rate guarantee was negotiated.  The stop loss coverage was shopped to 16 different Stop Loss Insurance Carriers, and Blue Cross had the best offer. The stop loss renewal was a 12.21% reduction over 2022. He shared that the combined administrative costs and stop loss costs will be 6.79% lower for 2023 vs. 2022; which includes dental administration. The Pharmacy Administrative Agreement includes increased discount guarantees and significantly increased rebate guarantees.  

 

The Group Medicare Advantage premium is increasing from $305 to $329 per member per month, which is still below the initial premium when the district first offered this coverage in 2020. Mr. Charpentier recapped changes in plan benefits for 2023.  This has been a successful program from a cost perspective, and retirees seem happy with the plan.

 

Mr. Charpentier stated that medical claims have trended upward as is the case universally. LPSB’s trend is favorable compared to the market as evidenced in the stop loss premium renewal.      

 

Ms. Duke discussed changes in Dental and Medicare Advantage plan premiums, and noted no changes in self-funded health plan premiums in the schedules she presented for 2023.  She reminded the Board there was a dental premium increase last year because claims had risen over time and premiums had not been adjusted for many years.  The cost of dental claims continued to increase this past year, so another increase has been recommended.  Employee premiums for single coverage will move from $20.25 to $27.75 monthly and from $59.25 to $68.75 for family coverage, with the Board paying $9.25. Retiree premiums for single coverage will rise from $27 to $37 monthly, while family coverage is increasing from $66 to $78.  She stated administration is looking at the current dental plan and other options with the goal being to ensure members have good coverage and benefits to make up for the premium increases.  She also stated the monthly Medicare Advantage Plan premium cost for retirees and spouses who pay a premium are increasing $6.00 per month as a result of the plan’s premium increase to keep the member/board cost share at 25%/75% as it has been in the past.

 

Ms. Duke recommended the Board approve the proposed 2023 health, dental, stop loss, and Medicare Advantage plan renewals and changes in plan premiums as recommended.

 

                        Upon a motion by Mr. Ferguson, seconded by Ms. Wiley, the Board unanimously voted to approve Ms. Duke’s above recommendation. 

 

                        John Young, Assistant Superintendent, asked board members to study revisions to policies GBRIB – Sick Leave and IDDFC – Cameras in Special Education Classrooms and new policy EBCB – Video Monitoring of School Board Property, with action to be taken at the December meeting.   

 

                        Ms. Duke shared that LPSB offers pre-taxed benefits to all salaried employees annually during open enrollment under a “cafeteria plan”. This plan offers employees tax-exempt benefits. After consulting with the Clinton Agency and National Benefits Services, Amendment #4 is proposed for adoption in a Resolution to clarify that benefits are not offered to non-salaried employees who are scheduled to work less than 30 hours a week. This amendment will also make the document an “evergreen” document by adding a generic term for “other insurance benefit” to include other new benefits that may be added to the plan in the future without having to amend the Plan Document. This amendment only “cleans up” the terms and conditions of the Plan Document to clarify what is currently in practice, which will be in compliance if the plan is ever audited by the IRS.    

 

                        Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the Resolution presented for Amendment #4 changes to the School Board’s Flexible Benefits Plan Document.  

 

                        Ms. Duke presented proposed changes in Employee Supplemental Benefits.  After meeting with Ms. Stacy Clinton of the Clinton Agency regarding benefits for the 2023 open enrollment period, changes were offered under LPSB’s cafeteria plan.  The new Vision carrier will be Community Eye Care, which replaces Always Care Vision.  The plan will provide $175 annual benefit, plus an additional 20% discount on most services, materials and eyewear, and better out-of-network benefits. The employee premiums are guaranteed for 3 years.

 

                        Additionally, Universal Life and Universal Life Events Coverage is a new product that will give employees options for permanent life insurance and/or to elect to use benefits for long-term care. This is offered as a substitute for American Public Life term life insurance, which is no longer offered for new enrollments.

 

                        Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Ferguson, the Board unanimously voted to approve the changes in employee supplemental benefits to be offered to employees voluntarily with coverage effective on January 1, 2023.

 

                        Director of Human Resources, Dr. Doris Lewis, continued with a personnel report.  She communicated the following information: 

1.        Administrative retirement of Tony Antley, principal at Choudrant High, effective February 5, 2023.

 

2.        Retirement of the following:

 

Kim McCormack, executive assistant at Central Office, effective December 21, 2022; and   

        

      Mary Woodard, library media specialist at I.A. Lewis, effective December 20, 2022.  

 

3.        Resignation of Emily Moore, speech therapist at Pupil Appraisal, effective October 5, 2022.

 

4.      Employment of the following effective October 31, 2022:        

                             

 Arnold Ford, computer technician at Central Office, replacing Randy Hill   who resigned; and

 

 Mary Durrett, secretary at Simsboro School, replacing Mary Smith who transferred.

 

5.        Staff Point of Reference of Mary Smith, from secretary at Simsboro School to executive assistant at Central Office replacing Kim McCormack who is retiring, effective November 1, 2022.

                             

6.        Retirement of Billy Jarmon, bus operator, effective October 5, 2022.

 

7.      Resignation of Justin Buggs, bus operator, effective October 22, 2022.  

      

                        Ms. Duke reported that sales tax collections for the month ending October 31, 2022, were down 1% compared to the same month last year. Collections were up 1.6% year-to-date, according to Ms. Duke.        

 

                        Moving on to the September 2022 Financial updates, Ms. Duke said that the undesignated fund balance of $16 million represents 27.7% of budgeted expenditures in the General Fund. Total General Fund balance is $25.6 million. Total overall fund balance including remaining special revenue funds is $43.9million.  Total expenditures for September were $9.3 million in the General Fund. Total expenditures for all funds were $13.4 million.   Ms. Duke noted that the total contributions year-to-date through September in the health plan were $9.6 million compared to $10.4 million last year due to the waiver of employer premiums in June to keep the fund balance in check with federal requirements. Total fixed costs were $2.8 million, and total claims expenses in the health plan were $7 million year-to-date. Total plan expenses year-to-date were $9.8 million for the 2022 calendar year, compared to $9.6 million this time last year. The change in net assets for the first nine months of the year is a decrease of $184,674.

 

                        In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Durrett said that:

1.      All schools will be closed Tuesday, November 8th for elections and he encouraged everyone to get out and vote.  

 

2.      The annual LSBA Convention will be held the week of March 6th in Lake Charles.  The exact dates have not been determined; more information will be available next month.

 

3.      ProVision will soon begin installation of cameras at I.A. Lewis and Choudrant High School.  This process will begin in schools with the greatest need. ESSER funds will be used for this project and all schools will be completed within the next year.  

 

                        There being no further business, upon a motion by Ms. Best, the meeting adjourned at 6:48 p.m.

 

_______________________________                            _______________________________

Ricky Durrett, Secretary                                                 Joe E. Mitcham, Jr., President