As Kansas lawmakers work to come up with a way to balance the state's budget, school district administrators are waiting to hear just how much money they will have to cut from their budgets.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, in the budget she proposed earlier this month, held K-12 education relatively harmless for the rest of this school year. Her budget calls for state aid per pupil to be reduced from $4,433 to $4,411, a cut of $22 per student.
Under the governor's plan USD 250 in Pittsburg would lose approximately $81,000 in 2009. The district's general fund budget for 2009, including special education funding, is set at $18,848,229. Sebelius' proposal sets the district's budget at $18,766,932.
Interim Superintendent Robin Dexter said the district's enrollment count this year of 2,658 was more than the district had budgeted for, thus state aid was more than the district was planning to receive. Dexter said that should help soften the blow of any budget cuts this year.
Southeast USD 247 is set to lose approximately $26,000 this year under Sebelius' plan. Superintendent Tim Burns said that number is "doable," but adds that any additional cuts could have negative consequences. The district's budget for fiscal year 2009 is set at $5,991,200.
"If the legislature comes back and says we need to cut 3 percent this year, we're talking about $180,000 out of our budget for this year," Burns said.
That uncertainty of what the final budget will be is making times a little tense in Kansas school districts.
"You never know, when the legislature is in session, what will come of that," Gary Snawder, Girard USD 248 superintendent, said.
The Girard school district would lose approximately $33,000 this year under the governor's proposed budget, which would take its computed budget of $7,669,090 down to $7,635,895. Snawder said any cuts are hard to swallow, especially when they come mid-year, as is possibly the case this year.
"When you plan on having it coming and it's not going to be there, you're going to have to cut something," he said.
Northeast USD 246 would lose close to $22,000 in 2009 under Sebelius' proposal and USD 249 in Frontenac would lose approximately $26,575.
But if things are rough now for school districts, they will likely get worse in 2010 — and they know it.
"When you start getting into next year, that's when you really start talking about some dollars," Burns said.
State revenue shortfalls are projected to reach $1 billion next year, which could lead to some major cuts in across-the-board spending — cuts that far exceed this year's slashing. And that's just from the governor's proposal. It is unknown what changes the legislature will make.
Under Sebelius' proposed budget, state aid to public school districts would drop another $66 per pupil in 2010, an $88 reduction over two years. If that plan sticks, USD 250 would lose another $245,000, USD 248 would lose $100,000, USD 247 and USD 249 would lose roughly $80,000 and USD 246 would lose $66,000.
Those numbers are "at least" figures, according to Dexter, and bigger cuts are expected, if not inevitable. If, or perhaps when, those larger cuts become a reality, school districts may be forced to evaluate certain programs and, if need be, staffing, to see what they can live without.
"(Staff) would be the last area we looked at, but salaries are the biggest part of our budget," Dexter said. "What we would do is look at administrators' costs or programs that would be nice, but when it comes to cuts, may have to go. We will just have to prioritize things and go from there."
Cutting budgets is rarely an easy thing to do, but it becomes a more difficult task when there seems to be no practical area from which to cut. That's seemingly the case in Arma, according to Superintendent Mike Philpot.
"Somewhere we're going to have to cut back on some things," Philpot said. "But as I look at our district, I don't think the district has much weight to lose. It's kind of a streamlined operation. They have been fairly frugal, at least with the fixed obligations. I can't say this district has any place it could really go and make cuts to some programs that aren't necessary. I think everything they are doing in this district is necessary."
Snawder said USD 248 officials have discussed how they will handle the coming reductions in state aid, but no specific plans are in place.
"We haven't got into the fine details of what we're going to do," he said. "We're looking at a lot of options right now. Until the (state budget) actually comes about, I'm not going to get overly excited, but we're obviously doing some planning."
According to the Associated Press, the Kansas Senate's Ways and Means Committee must decide how much state aid public schools should lose by June 30 and how those cuts should be distributed among Kansas' 295 school districts.
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As Kansas lawmakers work to come up with a way to balance the state's budget, school district administrators are waiting to hear just how much money they will have to cut from their budgets.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, in the budget she proposed earlier this month, held K-12 education relatively harmless for the rest of this school year. Her budget calls for state aid per pupil to be reduced from $4,433 to $4,411, a cut of $22 per student.
Under the governor's plan USD 250 in Pittsburg would lose approximately $81,000 in 2009. The district's general fund budget for 2009, including special education funding, is set at $18,848,229. Sebelius' proposal sets the district's budget at $18,766,932.
Interim Superintendent Robin Dexter said the district's enrollment count this year of 2,658 was more than the district had budgeted for, thus state aid was more than the district was planning to receive. Dexter said that should help soften the blow of any budget cuts this year.
Southeast USD 247 is set to lose approximately $26,000 this year under Sebelius' plan. Superintendent Tim Burns said that number is "doable," but adds that any additional cuts could have negative consequences. The district's budget for fiscal year 2009 is set at $5,991,200.
"If the legislature comes back and says we need to cut 3 percent this year, we're talking about $180,000 out of our budget for this year," Burns said.
That uncertainty of what the final budget will be is making times a little tense in Kansas school districts.
"You never know, when the legislature is in session, what will come of that," Gary Snawder, Girard USD 248 superintendent, said.
The Girard school district would lose approximately $33,000 this year under the governor's proposed budget, which would take its computed budget of $7,669,090 down to $7,635,895. Snawder said any cuts are hard to swallow, especially when they come mid-year, as is possibly the case this year.
"When you plan on having it coming and it's not going to be there, you're going to have to cut something," he said.
Northeast USD 246 would lose close to $22,000 in 2009 under Sebelius' proposal and USD 249 in Frontenac would lose approximately $26,575.
But if things are rough now for school districts, they will likely get worse in 2010 — and they know it.
"When you start getting into next year, that's when you really start talking about some dollars," Burns said.
State revenue shortfalls are projected to reach $1 billion next year, which could lead to some major cuts in across-the-board spending — cuts that far exceed this year's slashing. And that's just from the governor's proposal. It is unknown what changes the legislature will make.
Under Sebelius' proposed budget, state aid to public school districts would drop another $66 per pupil in 2010, an $88 reduction over two years. If that plan sticks, USD 250 would lose another $245,000, USD 248 would lose $100,000, USD 247 and USD 249 would lose roughly $80,000 and USD 246 would lose $66,000.
Those numbers are "at least" figures, according to Dexter, and bigger cuts are expected, if not inevitable. If, or perhaps when, those larger cuts become a reality, school districts may be forced to evaluate certain programs and, if need be, staffing, to see what they can live without.
"(Staff) would be the last area we looked at, but salaries are the biggest part of our budget," Dexter said. "What we would do is look at administrators' costs or programs that would be nice, but when it comes to cuts, may have to go. We will just have to prioritize things and go from there."
Cutting budgets is rarely an easy thing to do, but it becomes a more difficult task when there seems to be no practical area from which to cut. That's seemingly the case in Arma, according to Superintendent Mike Philpot.
"Somewhere we're going to have to cut back on some things," Philpot said. "But as I look at our district, I don't think the district has much weight to lose. It's kind of a streamlined operation. They have been fairly frugal, at least with the fixed obligations. I can't say this district has any place it could really go and make cuts to some programs that aren't necessary. I think everything they are doing in this district is necessary."
Snawder said USD 248 officials have discussed how they will handle the coming reductions in state aid, but no specific plans are in place.
"We haven't got into the fine details of what we're going to do," he said. "We're looking at a lot of options right now. Until the (state budget) actually comes about, I'm not going to get overly excited, but we're obviously doing some planning."
According to the Associated Press, the Kansas Senate's Ways and Means Committee must decide how much state aid public schools should lose by June 30 and how those cuts should be distributed among Kansas' 295 school districts.
