SALEM SCHOOLS Health-insurance savings lead to raises

Administrators' pay will average $65,000.
SALEM -- The city school district will use savings realized by employees' switch to a new health insurance plan to grant them pay raises.
The raises, approved earlier this week by the school board, take effect Dec. 1.
Receiving a 2.5 percent pay increase are 15 administrators, including principals and assistant principals but excluding the superintendent.
That group will each average $65,000 annually in salary with the raises, Superintendent David Brobeck said.
Also getting a 2.5 percent pay boost is the cafeteria supervisor, who will earn $35,000 annually.
The school board granted 3 percent raises to 10 employees, such as secretaries, who are not represented by a union.
With the raises, that group's pay will average $15 an hour, Brobeck said.
Cost to the district
The pay-increase package will cost the district about $18,750, which will be taken from about $34,200 in savings achieved when the affected employee group agreed to switch their health insurance to a less costly plan.
Under the new plan, the district pays a monthly premium of $897 for family coverage and $345 for single coverage.
Employees do not contribute to premium costs.
The raises granted this week follow raises approved earlier this month for teachers, who received a 2.5 percent increase, and for nonteaching employees, who received a 3 percent increase.