BROOKSVILLE — They love their jobs. They love their students. They love their schools.
But the school employees who packed the Hernando County School Board’s Aug. 25 meeting said love does not cover a $3,000 hit to a paycheck.
A proposed increase in the Florida Blue premiums deducted from employees’ checks would wipe out the raises staff members are still waiting on, speaker after speaker told the board — and could push teachers out of the county, out of the profession or into second and third jobs.
The district set up an overflow room because the boardroom was full. For nearly 90 minutes, 36 people — mostly teachers, along with support staff, retirees, a parent and a student — asked the board to find another way.
Here are the proposed changes, according to a chart distributed by the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association:
Employees alone in the Blue Care 60 plan would go from $101.19 per paycheck to $229.67, an annual increase of $3,083.52.
Employees plus a spouse in the 60 plan would go from $573.40 to $818.25, an annual increase of $5,876.40.
Employees with children in the 60 plan would go from $483.06 to $705.29, an annual increase of $5,333.52.
Employees with families in the 60 plan would go from $999.46 to $1,348.86, an annual increase of $8,385.60.
Rates are lower in the district’s two other plans, Blue Care 54 and Blue Option PPO Plan 05770, but the increases still bite. They range from $84.70 per paycheck, or $2,032.80 a year, for an employee alone in the Blue Care 54 plan, to $329.28 per paycheck, or $7,902.72 a year, for an employee with a family in the Blue Option PPO plan.
Public comment
Speakers described blown household budgets and the prospect of choosing between rent and groceries, or a mortgage payment and medicine. They talked about raises that have not arrived because the union and the board are still in negotiations. They talked about health problems that make the coverage essential, about the unpaid hours they put in for their students, and about dropping district insurance for a spouse’s plan.
They talked about the rising cost of living — housing, fuel, home and auto insurance, groceries.
Several warned that teachers would leave if the new rate chart takes effect, leaving the district to lean on first- and second-year replacements. One questioned how the district could recruit students into teaching while knowing what the insurance costs would do to them.
A few told board members outright that they are applying for jobs in other districts, and for jobs outside education.
Many said they felt they had been had by a state that does not respect educators and is not willing to pay them. Hernando County has a good school system, several said, and it is nothing without the people who staff it.
Nearly every speech drew applause and cheers.
Stacy Chinchilla brought a visual aid. “I am a math teacher, so I have done the math,” she said.
Board response
Board Chairwoman Kayce Hawkins and members Mark Johnson, Michelle Bonczek, Shannon Rodriguez and Susan Duval told the crowd they understand the frustration and promised to negotiate harder and look for savings.
Rodriguez said the board is reviewing every line of the budget. “We are 137 students down right now,” she said. “That’s $1,279,000 to $1,288,000 in total state funding that we have lost.”
Asked about substitutes, Rodriguez said everyone in the district office should substitute eight times a semester, both to see what is happening in schools and to save money. That alone could save $3.5 million to $4 million, she said.
Johnson said the state mandated the $2,000 raise for teachers with 10 or more years in the classroom, and that those who qualify will get the money once negotiations conclude.
The district is still pushing for a better insurance rate, he said. “We’re working to get that to a reasonable level.”
“We do care, and again we only have so many dollars to play with,” Johnson said. He said a 2.5% increase in Florida Retirement System contributions cost the district $5 million last year, against an extra $1 million from the state. “And they took back $5 million.”
The district also has to maintain a 3% fund balance under state rules, Johnson said, “or the state will take over. Nobody’s going to get a raise.”
Rodriguez said districts in two other counties that fell below that threshold were placed in a state of financial emergency and had state-appointed boards installed.
“That is not what we want to see happen here,” she said.
Hawkins said she has asked Superintendent Ray Pinder what else can be done, including issuing a request for proposals for health coverage. That process is slow, she said, and there is no guarantee bids would come back in time for this year’s open enrollment.
In the meantime, she said, the board is looking at everything in the budget.
The renewal information, rates and increases are set for further discussion at a board workshop Sept. 8 or Sept. 22.
Video of the meeting is available at hernandoschools.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx. Click the “Video” link for the Aug. 25 regular meeting.
In other action
The board’s consent agenda included more than $3.1 million for the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, an amendment to Addendums A and B of the school resource officer agreement running July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028, and several out-of-state travel requests for staff and field trips for students.
In a workshop before the meeting, the board discussed the role of its student delegate. District spokesman Aaron Ellerman said the decision was to keep the delegate but seat the student in the back of the room with staff rather than on the dais, with presentations made from the podium.