The escalating costs of providing benefits to public school employees are “on an unsustainable path,” and without a solution, they will continue to make balancing local school budgets difficult, according to Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield. Schofield said Hall County’s proposed 2018 fiscal year budget includes nearly $6.5 million in new costs for employee benefits to go along with more than $4 million for a 2.5 percent pay increase for all employees. “That’s a one-year increase, and that’s just an awful lot of money,” he said.