Katy ISD employees will have a fourth health insurance option for the 2026-27 school year after the board of trustees voted 7-0 on Aug. 24 to add a Kelsey-Seybold plan and restructure co-pays across two plans.

The vote followed months of employee pressure, including a 691-signature petition that the Texas American Federation of Teachers (Texas AFT) delivered to the board during public comments at the July 20 work study meeting. Multiple employees had spoken at earlier board meetings criticizing the district's existing plan, according to the Katy Times. At the same July 20 meeting, a teacher described struggling with the district's health plan during her fight against breast cancer.

The changes mean Katy ISD employees will choose among four plans, up from three. Both the new Kelsey-Seybold plan and the existing Memorial Hermann plan will operate as co-pay models, setting primary care visits at $10 and specialist visits at $50. District officials said the co-pay structure aims to encourage preventive care without requiring employees to meet their deductibles first.

Chief Human Resources Officer Brian Schuss said the district is not recommending changes to deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums.

The district will also raise its employer contribution from $385 to $427 per employee per month. That $42-per-month increase adds roughly $4 million in annual costs.

"If the district wasn't recommending that increase to $427 per employee, that increase on the Memorial Herman ACO would be about $50 per month," Schuss said at the Aug. 17 work study meeting.

With the higher contribution, the recommended premium increase for the Memorial Hermann ACO plan drops to $8 per month for employee-only coverage. Premiums for the Kelsey-Seybold plan will run slightly higher than the Memorial Hermann plan, Schuss said.

District officials said medical inflation is at a 20-year high. The Memorial Hermann ACO had been achieving cost containment but was limited to one hospital system. The district worked with a consultant, the Baldwin Group, which recommended the Kelsey-Seybold option.

Dr. Donald Aga, medical director for healthcare innovation at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, told the board the clinic has served the Houston area for more than 75 years. It has about 1,100 physicians and advanced practice clinicians at 45 locations, with more than 65 specialties. Kelsey-Seybold already works with Fort Bend ISD and Aldine ISD, Aga said.

There is one limitation. The Kelsey-Seybold plan does not cover services at MD Anderson Cancer Center. A Kelsey-Seybold representative said the clinic uses the same treatment plans as MD Anderson and can refer patients there for rare cancers its physicians cannot treat.

The petition that helped drive the changes came from Katy ISD teacher and Texas AFT member Allison Knight, who addressed the board at the July 20 work study meeting. Knight told the board the union had partnered with a parent volunteer with 29 years of benefits experience who concluded that switching to Teacher Retirement System (TRS) plans would cost employees more. The district confirmed it examined TRS plans and reached the same finding.

Schuss said the district expects about 20 percent of employees on the Memorial Hermann "choice" plan to migrate to Kelsey-Seybold. Open enrollment dates and the plan's effective date have not been announced.