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School districts brace for more cuts
Published 7/11/2009 in Local News : Education
By MONICA SPRINGER
More aid is being cut from school districts after the state announced recently that it will reduce the amount of aid it provides per student by 2 percent.
Those cuts, along with cuts already announced this year, mean the amount of money cut in Garden City schools comes to $2.74 million, Hugoton schools $400,000, Scott City schools $243,000, Copeland and Montezuma schools about $200,000 each, and Syracuse schools $167,000.
Those cuts in state aid are offset by money schools received through the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. But several school district officials in southwest Kansas say they are expecting still more cuts to come in the coming months.
Garden City USD 457
The 2-percent cut equals $62 less in state aid per student for the 2009-10 school year. That cut comes in addition to the following cuts the state has made this year to Garden City schools: $120 per student, or $1.2 million in state aid, in May; $33 per student, or $330,000 in January; and an original promised increase of $59 per student that was cut, totaling $590,000.
That adds up to school districts getting $4,218 per student for the 2009-10 school year, down from the $4,492 districts initially had been promised.
For Garden City, that means no summer school, no out-of-district travel for professional development and no raises for staff.
That's a total of a 6.1-percent budget loss, Atha said.
"If we cut any further we're going to severely jeopardize the educational services we provide our kids," Atha said.
Earlier this year the district announced it would save about $450,000 by eliminating summer school for most students, increasing driver's education costs and eliminate out-of-district travel.
Atha said 80 to 85 percent of the district's budget is made up of salaries.
If more cuts come, the district will look at either cutting costs more or increasing the local option budget.
Other cuts
Other school districts also have started to make cuts.
At Copeland, several positions were eliminated through attrition, including 1.5 fewer teachers, custodial positions, para positions and a child nutrition position.
Copeland will also share a music teacher and a librarian with Montezuma.
"We're being very frugal with spending," Zehr said, adding that he's hoping the cuts are done for this year.
But, Zehr said, he's prepared to take on another round of reductions in state aid.
"I think we'll have another cut. We've planned for another cut," he said. "We just can't absorb too many more."
In Syracuse, having $167,000 cut from the general budget means cutting back on supplies, equipment and purchases, Superintendent Joan Friend said.
The district won't purchase new athletic uniforms or new textbooks this year, she said, aside from replacing worn out books or uniforms.
Don Wells, superintendent of Scott City, said all together, Scott City schools will see a cut of $243,000.
To combat the cut of state aid, the district won't fill three openings, and Wells said teacher negotiations for the 2009-10 school year aren't yet complete because of the budget crunch.
"We're going to make it work," Wells said.
Positions eliminated
Several positions in Garden City have been eliminated through program budgeting, but all of the positions were through attrition, Atha said. No layoffs have taken place in Garden City schools.
The same can't be said for other districts in the state, though. Karla Denny, director of communications for the Kansas State Department of Education, said as of the end of May, 2,000 licensed teaching positions were eliminated in the state, along with 1,500 non-licensed positions.
Denny said the KSDE doesn't know yet how many of those eliminated positions might have been hired back by school districts.
Stimulus money
School districts in the state are receiving some help in the form of federal stimulus money.
Garden City has received $2.4 million in stimulus money to supplement the district's general fund, $705,000 for special education and $1,647,000 for the Title 1 program to be spent over two years.
Kathleen Whitley, financial officer for USD 457, said without the stimulus money, the cuts in USD 457 would have been more severe. Whitley also said the money used for the Title 1 program will allow the district to add one new para position and 3.5 new teaching positions.
Syracuse, too, received stimulus money in the amount of $65,618 to be spent over two years for the Title 1 program. Joan Friend, superintendent of Syracuse USD 494, said the money will be spent helping students who need additional support in the classroom.
Montezuma received $19,000 in stimulus money, to be spent over two years, and Copeland received $16,000, also to be spent over two years.
Jay Zehr, superintendent of Copeland USD 476 and Montezuma USD 371, said the money will allow Copeland to keep a Title 1 paraprofessional and Montezuma will purchase computers for elementary schools.
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