Peabody-Burns trails other county schools in take-home pay

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Base pay rates for first-year teachers and out-of-pocket health insurance costs vary from one county school district to another, with the net pay for a first-year teacher with family health insurance ranging nearly $5,000 per year.

Peabody-Burns is at the bottom of the scale and Hillsboro is at the top.

Whether the pay difference makes a difference in recruitment of teachers is anyone’s guess.

Hillsboro schools’ base pay for a first-year teacher is $35,950.

Hillsboro, Peabody-Burns, Marion, and Goessel school districts offer insurance plans with $650, $1,300, and $2,000 deductibles.

Hillsboro Superintendent Max Heinrichs said the district pays in full for an employee’s $1,300 deductible plan.

For a family plan with $2,000 deductible, the employee pays an additional $613 per month. A first-year teacher paying for the highest-deductible family plan makes $28,594.

“We try to look at what the schools are paying on the I-70 corridor and we can’t pay what they pay,” Heinrichs said.

Heinrichs said school districts communicate and find ways to work together as much as possible.

“We’re not competing with anybody,” Heinrichs said. “We put out our openings and we’ve always been lucky, we’ve gotten quality people, some coming home and some top of the game.”

Peabody-Burns’ base pay for a first-year teacher is $32,200.

The district pays a portion of a single insurance plan with a $2,000 deductible, and the employee pays $65 per month, or $780 per year.

For a family plan with a $2,000 deductible, the employee pays $709 per month. A first-year teacher paying for the highest-deductible family plan makes $23,692.

Peabody-Burns Superintendent Ron Traxson said teachers who really want to make the most money wouldn’t come to Marion County, but instead to a larger district.

“As far as with us being a district that’s in decline, that’s something you have to plan for,” Traxson said. “Currently with the base state aid going up that kind of balances things.”

The district is looking to be more competitive, he said.

“I think there are a lot of things we offer,” he said. “We want to get our salary up, but we’ll never pay what Wichita or Newton pays.”

He echoed Heinrichs’ outlook that county school districts don’t compete.

“We’re just going to go with the best we can get,” Traxson said.

Marion-Florence USD 408 base pay is $35,750.

Business manager Jordan Metro said the district pays for the highest deductible single plan and the employee pays $644 per month for the highest deductible family plan.

A first-year teacher with the highest-deductible family plan makes $27,522 in Marion.

Goessel schools’ base pay for a first-year teacher is $34,090.

Goessel pays for the highest deductible single plan, district clerk Joni Smith said.

A first-year teacher paying for the highest-deductible family plan makes $26,362.

At Centre schools, base pay is $35,396 and the district pays the cost of a single health insurance plan with a $1,000 deductible.

Francie Mueller in the district office said the district ofWhat an employee pays for health insurance depends on whether they choose to include spouse, children, or both, at different costs.