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Petition creates funding dilemma for district

adviser — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:10:03 +0000

Some of you may have heard some discussion regarding a protest petition that has been circulated in the community. Last last week I was notified by the County Clerk that a protest petition has been received in the clerk’s office. The protest petition was to the resolution that the Board of Eduction has passed in late February for the Capital Outlay mill levy.

The state requires that school districts set their maximum budget authority for capital outlay funds every five years. Our resolution expired this year and in order to levy any amount of capital outlay the board must pass new resolution. The state also sets the maximum budget authority for school capital outlay funds. The maximum in Kansas currently is 8 mills, which is up from 6 mills which was the amount when the last resolution was passed by the USD 336 Board. Approving the 8 mill maximum budget authority does not mean that the board is raising its mill levy, it just gives the board the authority to levy up to that amount. The reason the maximum was raised to 8 mills is due to the fact that the Kansas Legislature is placing more responsibility on the local school board to finance schools. An example of that is that in years past when the school board levied one mill of capital outlay the state would provide 46% of that amount to the district. This pass year the legislature eliminated that 46% for capital outlay, (they did not eliminate the 46% for bonds for construction, just capital outlay). Since I have been here the board has never raised the capital outlay mill levy over 4 mills. This past year the amount was 2.25 mills. It was the consensus of the board and I agree that in these times of serious financial constraints it would be wise to have the authority in case of emergencies.

To get to the point of what the protest means. Since 10% of the registered voters of USD 336 signed the petition there now must be an election to determine if the board can levy capital outlay funds up to 8 mills. This item is on the agenda for tonight’s school board meeting. It is first on the agenda.

The board has one of three choices. 1) Call a special election for a vote on the question, 2) wait till the primary election, which is August 4 and put the question on that ballot, 3) wait till November and put it on the general election.

In number 1 the school district would have to pay the full amount for the cost of the special election; in number 2 the board would have to pay for the set up and printing of the ballots as they pertain to the question – the district would have to do that in all 3 options. Number 3 is really a bad choice; if the board waited till November to put the question on the ballot we would not be able to levy any capital outlay for this coming school year. The 2nd choice has its challenges also, we would be cutting it very close to have the election, get the election certified, then publishing the budget (must be published in the paper at least 10 days prior to the hearing) and then having the budget hearing. The deadline date to have the budget finalized is August 25th.

Some have asked why we don’t just levy what we did last year. This is not an option our resolution for capital outlay has expired so we are at “0″ until there is an election. If it passes, the board can levy up to 8 mills; if it fails, we are still at 0.
This does create challenges for the district if we have no capital outlay. We currently have two loan payments that must be paid next year, one is for the roof repairs on the Middle School that was made 4 years ago, and the final payment on the computers for the 1 to 1 lap top at the high school. These two loans total $235,000. (The computer payment has been made from LOB in the past; it was my intent to make this payment out of capital outlay next year, which would leave more in general fund and LOB for operating and salaries) We would then have to depend on the General Fund to make these loan payments if we had no capital.

Boys and Girls Advance to State

Jackson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:29:07 +0000

The varsity boys and girls both won the sub-state championship last Saturday, earning them a trip to Salina. The girls will enter as a number two seed and will play Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. For the boys, this will be their first trip to state since 1990. They enter as the number seven seed and will play at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.

UPDATE: The girls defeated Hesston and now will advance to play Cheney at 3:00 on Friday.

Fighting school funding misinformation

adviser — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:52:33 +0000

Mark Twain said there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. You may have recently heard some lobbyists, legislators, or television commercials offering statistics claiming that spending on Kansas public schools has actually gone up over the past few years and school districts have $700 million in reserves to deal with budget cuts. The statistics they cite are, at best, partial truths.
For example, in 2005, the state legislature mandated that, instead of sending school KPERS money directly to KPERS, it would first be wired to school districts and then immediately be re-wired to KPERS. That’s about $250 million that shows up on school district budgets. At the time, the majority in the legislature said they wanted to show what the actual expenses of education were. The fact that schools can’t actually educate children with the money apparently makes no difference. Increases to KPERS are counted as increases to education and, since the legislature has been borrowing from KPERS and must soon pay it back, this statistical red herring will undoubtedly continue.
Also, funding statistics include state-wide funding for new school buildings, which is called Bond and Interest. While it’s true that the state is spending more money on recent bond issues in some school districts, it is funding for operating costs like salaries, utilities, fuel, food, and insurance that is being cut.
It would be more honest to cite statistics that relate to the General fund, which is the primary fund for operating expenses. That fund decreased 6.9% from last year to this year. According to KSDE, even when you include funding increases from KPERS, Bond and Interest, Local Option Budget, and federal funds the amount of funding to Kansas schools still decreased 3.2% from last year to this year. Meanwhile, schools have more students, more at-risk students, and higher student achievement requirements than ever before.
The other thing we hear a lot about is how school districts have $700 million sitting around in reserves. Various funds must have cash balances because, even in good economic times, money often goes out faster than it comes in. The Special Education Fund in particular must have a healthy balance (about $225 million this year) because school districts don’t receive a penny of special education funding until three and a half months after the fiscal year starts.
Lately, many school districts have needed cash balances just to make payroll due to state cash-flow problems and late funding payments. Saying that these cash balances can take care of funding cuts is like saying you can absorb a pay cut from your job right after you’ve been paid because your mortgage and car loan haven’t been deducted from your checking account yet.
The Contingency Fund (a.k.a. the rainy day fund) is the primary reserve fund but that money can only be used once. For the past two years, school funding has been cut during the school year after the vast majority of school funding is contractually committed. That’s why it’s important to have contingency money available. For school districts, keeping no reserve and, when bad times hit, telling parents we’re sorry but there isn’t any money to suitably educate their children isn’t an option.
Last year, the legislature passed a law raising the limit of how much money school districts can put into their Contingency Fund to encourage school districts to cut spending and transfer savings there. They knew more mid-year cuts were likely to come. Now, some legislators and others are pointing to that money as a reason why school districts can handle more cuts. Wow.
Are Kansans really naïve enough to believe that school districts are closing schools and laying off thousands of teachers and other employees even though we have more money than ever and just want to hoard our huge reserves? Some politicians and some people paying for television commercials are hoping so. Instead of political spin, we need an honest discussion about what’s going on so we can reach informed solutions.
Education is the best—perhaps only—solution to ignorance, intolerance, and poverty. It’s also the only way to ensure the continued success of democracy. Without public education, the quality of a child’s education would be based on the wealth of his or her parents. That’s why the state’s Founding Fathers made public education a required state expenditure in the Kansas Constitution. If we’re going to imperil their vision and our children’s education we should do so while understanding the whole truth.

Dr. Darrel Stufflebeam
Superintendent of Schools
Rock Creek USD 323

Financial Meeting Completed

Jackson — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:38:40 +0000

Several community members, the school board, and those employed in the district gathered Monday night to talk about USD 336′s current budget situation. A paper with potential budget cuts was handed out and then those present were able to ask questions and voice their opinion. A few letters that were sent in were also read. The video shows a few highlights of the meeting.

Snow Days Add to Already Blacked Out Days

Jackson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:26:05 +0000

Due to the budget cuts, days of school have been “blacked out” in order to save the district money. On these blackout dates everybody except for teachers and administrators will not be in school. These cuts are projected to save up to $200,000.

For students, these days allow them time off of school. While students now have more time scheduled off of school than ever, a winter filled with snow has also created even more time away from the classroom. The recent snow days occurred on January 7th and 8th. Those days had highs of 12 and 7 degrees respectively. These frigid temperatures that have kept the snow from melting, have combined with blackout days and kept students home more than usual. To lean more about the district cuts visit http://www.holton.k12.ks.us/financialcrisis.pdf .

John Hall visits Central Elementary School

adviser — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:49:39 +0000

When John Hall came to school, he was funny. He asked us questions and told us what inspired him to write “How to get a Gorilla Out of Your Bathtub” and Micky Mcmuffin’s Ear.” For “How to Get a Gorilla Out of Your Bathtub,” he said he was a third-grade teacher and he was watching kids play on the playground and then a thought popped right into his head . That is how he wrote “How to Get a Gorilla Out of Your Bathtub.”

This is how he wrote “Micky Mcmuffin’s Ear.” He said he was in StarBucks and he was rubbing his ear because he said it felt good and then he thought “Why do you have a hole in your ear?” So then he wrote down his idea on a StarBuck paper towel and that’s how he got the idea for “Micky McMuffin’s Ear.”