Marshall Schools Face 10% Health Insurance Increase, Down From 24.5%

Marshall Board of Education | July 16, 2026

Article Summary: Superintendent Ross told the Marshall C.U.S.D. C-2 board on Thursday, July 16, 2026, that the district will land in the worst of seven rate tiers within Egyptian Trust and absorb a 10 percent premium increase — well below last year’s 24.5 percent jump and below the 25 to 40 percent increases the district found elsewhere in the fully insured market.

Health Insurance Renewal Key Points:

The overall Egyptian Trust increase is in the 5 to 6 percent range; Marshall’s own increase is 10 percent.

Ross attributed the district’s placement in the worst of seven tiers to a bad year for health issues among covered employees.

Last year’s increase was 24.5 percent; other fully insured groups the district examined face increases of 25 to 40 percent.

No board action was taken; the item was reported as part of the superintendent’s report.

MARSHALL — Marshall C.U.S.D. C-2 employees and taxpayers will see health insurance premiums rise 10 percent in the coming year, Superintendent Ross told the Board of Education on Thursday, July 16, 2026 — an increase the district’s administration presented as comparatively good news.

Ross reported that health insurance with Egyptian Trust “is in a better place,” with the overall Trust increase in the 5 to 6 percent range. Marshall, however, will not get the overall rate. The minutes record that the district “has had bad luck this year with health issues and will be in the worst of 7 tiers and see a 10% increase in premiums.”

That compares with a 24.5 percent increase the district absorbed last year, according to the minutes.

Ross also told the board that other fully insured groups the district examined are facing increases ranging from 25 to 40 percent. Fully insured arrangements are generally those in which an employer pays premiums to a carrier or trust that assumes the risk of claims, as distinct from arrangements in which an employer pays claims directly.

The report came as part of the superintendent’s regular report to the board, alongside an update on summer maintenance. No motion was made and no vote was taken on insurance at the July meeting, and the agenda listed no insurance item.

The minutes do not state the district’s current or renewal premium amounts in dollars, the number of employees covered, the effective date of the new rates, how the seven tiers are defined or how a group’s tier is determined. They do not identify which other fully insured groups the district reviewed, and they record no board discussion or questions following the superintendent’s report.

Health insurance costs have been a recurring pressure point for small Illinois districts, and the figures Ross cited frame Marshall’s position in relative rather than absolute terms. On the district’s own numbers, a 10 percent increase is roughly double the increase the Trust as a whole is absorbing, but well under half of what Marshall paid in its prior renewal and below the floor of the range the district found in the broader market.

Because the minutes carry no dollar figures, the practical cost of the increase to the district’s budget — and the share, if any, borne by employees — cannot be determined from the public record of the meeting.