Last Thursday, December 8th, The Fannin County Board of Education (BOE) approved Lynn Doss as the School Board Attorney. Doss, whose husband Judge Harry Doss is running for Appalachian Circuit District Attorney, has been the Board’s attorney for several years, now. Superintendent Mark Henson said that Doss has done a great job for the Board and is always available when she is needed and, recommended to approve the renewal of her services for the upcoming year.

The Board also approved a series of pension plan amendments. The plan amended is called VALIC (Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company) 457 b and the amendments are a response to four pieces of Federal Legislation which must be amended no later than December 31, 2011. Some of the amendments include changes required by the HEART (Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax) Act. The change requires that those engaged in military service for more than 30 days be treated as separated from employment, which allows those serving in the military to receive fund distributions from their plans.

Other amendments pertained to ROTH contributions and conversions, which the Board did not include as part of the changes to the plan.

The changes were approved unanimously by the Board, but the move brings up the issue of Federal mandates, specifically upcoming insurance hikes mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( PPACA or ObamaCare). Some parts of the nationalized healthcare bill have already taken place, while others will go into effect in January 2012. The BOE, though, has previously budgeted for the increases. For non-certified employees, healthcare costs will increase a minimum of 11 percent and a maximum of 17 percent come January, depending on the plan selected. Currently, the BOE pays for all single plans. According to Superintendent Henson and Finance Director Susan Jackson, more increases are expected, specifically for certified employees. In a recent conversation with FYN, Henson said that the one thing that worries him about future Board meetings and budget hearings is increases to healthcare cost.

At last week’s meeting, the Board also heard the district’s most recent financial report. The County reported that, at year-end, it is still under budget, highlighting the SPLOST (Special Option Sales Tax) revenue, which as of September was $331,068.13. Regarding other finances the Board additionally approved the purchase of 55 Dell laptop computers at $675 each, for a total of $37,125. The computers will be purchased with a Title VI-B Federal Grant, not to be confused with Title I funding, which was one of the trigger budgetary cuts provisions of the Congressional Committee designed to cut the Federal Budget. If the Committee failed in making its trillion plus dollars cuts, certain Federal funding was to be automatically cut across several areas. One of these areas was Title I funding, which affects Education programs including assisted lunch programs. The Committee’s deadline has come and gone, leaving school districts finances uncertain. The laptops purchased with Title VI-B will be used as a mobile lab used for content purposes, Human Resources Assistant Cynthia Painter said, who gave the presentation.
Henson said that he wanted to take advantage of the Title VI-B grant, because it is one of the few Federal Grants that does not have strings attached to it.