Hutchinson ? Just weeks before school is scheduled to start, a majority of the state’s school districts have not reached contract settlements with their teachers.

The Kansas Association of School Boards says 88 of the 289 districts had reached contract settlements with teachers’ associations as of July 9.

The Hutchinson News reports that the association says that in those 88 districts, the median for base pay and fringe benefits for a returning teacher is $37,070. That’s an increase of 1 percent from last year.

The biggest obstacle appears to be the cost of insurance. Haven Superintendent Patrick Call says a group of districts that buy insurance together have been told premiums would be going up 11.5 percent. But he says other districts have heard that rates were going up at least 30 percent.