School board approves retirement plan draft

In the only action item on the agenda, the Concordia Unified School District 333 board of education approved a draft of a proposed ESSDACK 403 (b) retirement plan portfolio that was negotiated with the employees in the district.
Under the plan, a retirement plan would be established for each employee in the school district at his or her request, that would contain an employer paid deferred benefit account and an employee paid deferred account.
A 403 (b) plan (tax-sheltered annuity plan or TSA) is a retirement plan offered by public schools and certain charities, that allows employees to defer some of their salary into individual accounts. The deferred salary is generally not subject to federal or state income tax until it's distributed.
Once established, the district will match the monthly contribution made to the employee paid account, up to $25.
The district's matching benefit will end once the employee reaches 65 years of age, is KPERS retired or is no longer employed with the district.
If given final approval by the board of education at a later meeting, the retirement portfolio plan would become effective January 1, 2024.
USD 333 superintendent of schools Quentin Breese said that the district has the funds to start the plan this fiscal year and would like to be able to increase the matching funds each year.
During the meeting, Breese informed the board that the district is facing a potential 37.9 percent increase in its health insurance premiums with Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
USD 333 is currently paying $211,874.40 per month for its insurance premiums. With the proposed increase that would increase to $278,559.31 per month. That is a total increase over a year of more than $800,000.
"It is going to be a bit challenging on the budget when you are facing that," Breese said. "We have the cash in reserves, that we put back several years in a row when we have had our good years of health insurance, to counteract this a little bit, but we certainly can't take many more years of that."
Breese informed the board that the district is negotiating with Blue Cross and Blue Shield to attempt to reduce the increase.
The district is bidding out the health insurance coverage to a couple of other vendors and is waiting to get those numbers.
Included in the certified staff changes approved by the board during the meeting was the retirement of Concordia Elementary School principal Derek Holmes, effective September 1, 2024 and the retirement of board of education clerk Traci Holmes, effective July 1, 2024.
USD 333 classified staff new hires approved by the board include:
Ryan Niehues, substitute teacher; Mistie Knox, substitute para/teacher; Jaelynn Whitley, substitute para/teacher; Michaela Wetter, substitute teacher (CES only first semester); Brock Hartshorn, driver's education instructor; Amanda Zielinksi, substitute para; Jack Reed, custodian at Concordia Junior-Senior High School; and John Hake, junior high school boys' wrestling coach.
Classified staff resignations approved include:
Jaycee Blazek, para substitute; Tiffany Hansen, substitute teacher/para; Cynthia Atwell, junior high volleyball coach; Sofia Gallup, junior high track coach; Andrea Jones, CAP director and CES para educator.
The transfer of Kayla Whiteley from full-time to part-time food service/substitute para was approved.
Director Kim Muff presented a one-year update on the Concordia Education Fund to the board during the meeting.
Created in October 2022, the Concordia Education Fund is a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code. It is held at the Community Foundation for Cloud County and is an affiliate of the Greater Salina Community Foundation.
The Concordia Education Fund (CEF) provides an opportunity to directly support Concordia public schools through your contributions, which will impact our district families through educational opportunities from birth through senior year.
Muff reported that CEF contributions and activities, to date, total $213,487 and grants received, to date, total $342,925.
The grants the foundation have received include:
 • $2,115 Hansen Foundation Grant for Group Daycare Home
• $2,700 Cloud Community Foundation for Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge
• $5,000 Cloud Community Foundation for CMS Recreation Area
• $5,000 Cloud Community Foundation for Preschool Resources
• $2,000 Child Care Aware for Early Child Care Coalition Building
• $71,960 Child Care Aware for Early Child Care Capacity
• $132,825 Patterson Family Foundation for Rural Educator Development
• $93,880 Patterson Family Foundation for Career & Technical Education
• $27,445 Patterson Family Foundation for Rural District Child Care
"So the benefit of having your Concordia Education Fund, which was your vision, the board members, is $556,412. And that is a credit to you, the board members," Muff said.
Breese informed the board members during the meeting that the district had received congratulations from the Kansas Department of Education and the Kansas State Board of Education for honors received in the 2023 Kansas Can Star Recognition Program.
Kansas Can Star recognizes the success by school districts in the outcome of measures Kansans told them they value.
USD 333 received bronze awards in social-emotional growth, kindergarten readiness, individual plan of study, graduation and postsecondary effectiveness and a copper award in civic engagement.
The district also received a Commissioner's Award, which recognizes the districts that outperform their predicted postsecondary effectiveness rate above a .40 standard deviation.