School districts ‘taking the cut’
State leaders said it was cause for celebration, not cuts to schools. But the K-12 block-grant funding bill is showing its impact on districts around the state, and in ways that don’t square with the proponents’ assurances.
After last week’s closed-door bill-signing ceremony, Gov. Sam Brownback released a statement touting increased funding, and “getting money into the classroom to immediately benefit Kansas students.”
As the bill cleared the House, Rep. Mark Hutton, R-Wichita, argued that districts will still get more money than they did last year. “I think it’s disingenuous for the schools to say they’re taking the cut,” he said.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said: “No district under this plan should have to cut a planned expenditure unless it’s a local decision for other than funding reasons.”
The reality is proving much less upbeat, in part because many of the dollars counted as increased funding are actually going to the state’s pension system and not available for district operations.
The Pratt Tribune reported that the Skyline district’s contingency reserves are gone because of an unexpected $90,000 HVAC expenditure, and the block-grant bill is a loss of $118,000 to the district this school year. “It will cut our state aid and hurt our school district. This is dire for us,” Skyline superintendent Mike Sanders told his school board earlier this month.
The Auburn-Washburn district in Topeka is deferring bus purchases, technology infrastructure work and paving, among other projects, to help offset $1.14 million in lost funding for this school year, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Plus, district leaders fear they may be expected to repay the state about $260,000 already spent on maintenance. (A spokeswoman for House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, told the Capital-Journal that was not lawmakers’ intention.)
Wichita’s USD 259 is managing its $7.6 million current-year cut by delaying capital projects and, if necessary, using reserve funds. That also will defer the hardest decisions for the summer work on the 2015-16 school year budget.
There is even concern in Johnson County, where two districts gave cautious support for the block-grant approach. Olathe is facing $2.1 million in cuts to its operating budget and contemplating reductions “that we haven’t shared yet, but which are programs that will have faces on them,” said superintendent Marlin Berry, as reported by the Kansas City Star.
A number of districts are considering raising local property taxes under their local option budgets – tax hikes that state leaders no doubt would deny were their doing. Other districts are considering canceling summer school.
“Immediately” benefiting students? No “taking the cut”? No cutting a “planned expenditure”?
State leaders who refused to anticipate the impact on school districts of their block-grant reform need to pay attention to what’s unfolding, just as the state’s courts surely will.
For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman
This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "School districts ‘taking the cut’."