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Tough decisions ahead for schools
Published 2/14/2009 in News : Education
By MONICA SPRINGER
A bill that now sits on the governor's desk could mean a cut of more than $780,000 to Garden City USD 457.
Senate Bill 20 would eliminate $28 million in state aid for Kansas school districts and more than $4 million for special education programs.
If it becomes law, USD 457 would lose $780,718 in aid this year.
Superintendent Rick Atha said the district is prepared for those cuts and could absorb the costs without reduction in staffing or reducing services to students.
About $600,000 in carry-over funds would offset most of the anticipated $780,718 in cuts.
But if the state asks school districts to cut five or 10 percent, or more for the 2009-2010 school year, Atha said those cuts would be "devastating."
Atha will testify before the Senate Ways and Means Committee in Topeka later this month, where he will tell legislators the impact of a five- or 10-percent cut in the district's funding would mean. Five percent is $2.9 million, and 10 percent is more than $5.8 million.
Aid to public schools is a key issue because, at $3.79 billion, it consumes half of the state's general tax revenues. The cut is about 1 percent of schools' total aid.
USD 457 will begin its program budgeting process in April, when it will look at all of the district's programs and prioritize them to determine the level of funding each will receive.
If school districts are asked to cut five or 10 percent of their budget, or more, Atha said for every $10 cut, $8 of that would be cut from staffing.
"When you start absorbing cuts, you can't get away from eliminating staff," Atha said.
He added that there are things the district can budget for that fall in a category of unforeseen circumstances -- replacing boilers or a roof damaged in a hail storm -- but the potential cut of state aid for next year remains unknown.
Other school districts in southwest Kansas are implementing other cost-saving measures, such as energy efficiency, shorter school weeks or shorter calendar years, and changing or eliminating some bus routes.
But USD 457 is too big of a school district, and the savings from doing those measures wouldn't be much, Atha said.
Widespread effects
In many small communities in Kansas, the school district is the largest employer. If the largest employer has to scale back employees, Hugoton USD 210 Superintendent Mark Crawford said, those individuals will leave town and leave a lasting economic impact on the town.
"If funding is cut, there are going to be long-term negative effects, not only for Hugoton, but for every community in Kansas," he said.
Hugoton USD 210 has reduced the amount of overtime worked and teacher travel. The district also is trying to cover classes in house when a teacher is sick, reducing the number of substitute teachers the district hires for $90 a day.
Crawford said the district won't fill two open classified positions.
Other area school districts that are cutting back include:
Deerfield USD 216 is eliminating overtime for classified staff, halting most of its travel, eliminating a bus route and implementing a hiring freeze.
Scott City USD 466 entered into a fuel contract to offset future rising gasoline prices. The district also is keeping a close eye on utilities, combining jobs, consolidating transportation and reducing in-service requests.
Holcomb USD 363 at its last board meeting decided to freeze professional development spending not already committed. The district also decided to hold off on supply purchases and will wait until 2010 to replace three-year-old laptops.
'Not like they were'
So far, school districts in western Kansas have not announced layoffs. Instead, they are looking for ways to trim the budget elsewhere. And many districts are in the process of teacher negotiations, a process that superintendents say is nerve-racking because of future budget uncertainties.
"It makes it very, very difficult to plan negotiations," Crawford said of the proposed cuts in state aid. "We are the largest employer in the community. If the state has to reduce our revenues, that's going to have a tremendous economic impact on communities in Kansas where the school district is the largest employer."
Wells said of the current economic conditions affecting school districts: "Everybody has to have an attitude adjustment. Things are not going to be like they were. We have to cope with that."
Shortening school year
Dighton USD 482 opted to shorten the school year by making the school days longer to cope with expected cuts in state aid.
Students in Dighton started last week on a new schedule from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. — 25 minutes longer than before — with a few minutes added to each of their core class periods.
The change allows the district to end the school year on May 1, instead of the originally scheduled May 22, and still stay within state requirements that dictate how long students must attend school, Superintendent Angela Lawrence said.
The schedule change means a savings of up to $50,000. Projected cost savings include $10,000 on utilities, $5,000 on food and milk, $2,500 in substitute teacher salaries, and $10,000 in savings in reimbursements to parents for transporting students to school.
Other changes include: no longer offering a salad bar to middle and high school students, saving $6,000; turning back thermostats by three degrees, saving $1,000; no longer offering driver's education during the summer, cutting $4,500; eliminating out-of-district professional development at a cost of $2,000; and $1,500 in cuts as part of restructuring summer school services to high school students.
Staff salaries won't be impacted, Lawrence said.
Shortening school weeks
Several districts in southwest Kansas are considering shortening their school weeks to four days instead of five.
School districts nationwide, including Kansas districts in Healy, Dexter, Haviland, Mullinville, Burden, Weskan and Ashland, have moved to four-day weeks with longer school days to save money.
Jon Ansley, Deerfield superintendent, said the district has been studying going to a four-day week to save between $50,000 and $60,000 a year.
Ansley said the district doesn't know whether it will take off Monday or Friday. Switching to a four-day week would save on transportation, utilities and substitute teachers, Ansley said. Also, he said the district could possibly save more money on Fridays because more substitute teachers work on those days.
The amount of student contact time with teachers would remain the same and the district would lengthen the four school days. The district is considering providing tutoring on the fifth day, he said, but the district would still save on energy costs.
Shortening the school week next year also is a possibility in Scott City, Wells said.
"We've talked a little about it," Wells said. "It's something we may want to consider. I want to make sure we don't leave any stones unturned. We're looking for all the savings we can get in non-personnel activities."
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