School finance fix will mean lower taxes for Wichita district residents

Wichita school district leaders say local property tax bills likely will go down this year thanks to a school finance plan that will funnel additional state aid to Wichita.

“We haven’t done all the calculations yet … but it will be somewhere between a 1- and 2-mill reduction,” said Jim Freeman, chief financial officer for the Wichita district.

“It will be a relatively small amount on somebody’s property tax bill, but if they’re paying attention they’ll notice it.”

A school finance bill approved by Kansas lawmakers last week is expected to steer about $10.3 million in additional state aid to Wichita – a little more than half in the form of property tax relief. Gov. Sam Brownback signed the legislation Monday. The Supreme Court still must approve it; the state and school districts in the school finance lawsuit have asked the court to do so.

In Wichita, a 1- to 2-mill reduction would mean a savings of between $11.50 and $23 a year for the owner of a $100,000 house.

The new law also will boost the district’s capital outlay budget, which it uses to pay for building maintenance and improvements.

About $4.5 million in additional capital could allow the district to resurrect projects it has delayed over the past few years, including a football stadium and other athletic facilities at the new Southeast High School.

“We haven’t done any of the planning yet to know exactly how that’s going to be done,” Freeman said Monday. “I’ll have to get some direction from the board before we actually finalize that.”

District leaders expressed relief that the standoff between the Kansas Legislature and the Kansas Supreme Court, which had threatened to prompt a statewide school shutdown, was averted by a bipartisan vote during last week’s special session.

In an update to employees over the weekend, Superintendent John Allison applauded lawmakers and said families could finally “plan with certainty for a school year that begins Aug. 24 in Wichita.”

“My deepest thank you to the legislators who worked together to achieve this solution, and to all of you for keeping the faith, being involved in the conversation, and fighting for what’s right for Kansas kids,” Allison said in the statement.

District leaders will spend the next several weeks finalizing the 2016-17 budget, which board members are expected to approve in August.

Board members so far have trimmed about $21 million from next year’s budget to make up for projected cost increases.

Among other cuts, they lengthened the school day by 30 minutes and trimmed 15 days from the academic calendar; eliminated more than 100 positions; closed Metro-Meridian Alternative High School, and ended bus transportation for thousands of students.

The district also has proposed changes to employee health insurance plans intended to replenish the district’s dwindling health care reserves. According to the plan, premiums, deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket maximum amounts would increase for most employees and retirees.

Freeman said additional state aid approved last week likely will have little effect on those plans.

“We’re almost a little bit too late in the game to make a lot of changes on that,” he said Monday.

“Until we get solid numbers, it’s a little hard to know exactly where we are. But at this point … nothing looks like we’re way off, so we’re proceeding down the path of building those budgets based on (previous) recommendations.”

This story was originally published June 27, 2016 at 4:20 PM with the headline "School finance fix will mean lower taxes for Wichita district residents."