(ABC 6 News) — Austin Public Schools prides itself on its staff insurance plans, but come next school year, staff will find themselves paying a little more out of pocket than before.

One of the many key action items on Monday’s school board meeting agenda was approving the health and dental insurance rates for next year.

The APS insurance program is self-funded, meaning the district collects all the premiums from employees and employers and pays for all the insurance bills.

“For the 12 months of April 2024 to March of 2025, we had a loss ratio of 112%, so what that means for every dollar we had coming into our pool, we were spending a dollar, $1.12, so we were running at a loss, and our target is about 85%,” said Todd Lechtenberg, the district’s Executive Director of Finance and Operations.

That loss rate was even higher in the previous 12 months at 142%.

Despite claims trending down, the district is still planning to raise medical premiums by 14% and dental premiums by 3%.

However, it’s still less than last year when premiums increased by 24%.

At a time when educators are leaving the district due to various frustrations over the school climate, many who are sticking around have anonymously shared with ABC 6 News that insurance is one of the main reasons they stay.