Schools slowly raise health costs for top staff

GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) - Administrators in some Indiana school districts are finding their health costs are going up even more than those of teachers.

Nearly 60 of the state's 354 public school districts have abandoned a long-held practice of offering administrators health insurance for $1 or less a year. Instead, administrators are paying thousands of dollars as their share of health coverage.

The Penn-Harris-Madison district in Mishawaka says the move has saved the school system nearly $5 million since 2005. But other districts say top staff expect the health perk and have no plans to change their policies.

School officials in Hamilton Southeastern say they expect the issue to come up again as people raise concerns about fairness of the benefit.