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| School district talks budget |
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| Written by Aaron Cedeño | |||
| Wednesday, 03 February 2010 08:00 | |||
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Ask any science teacher in Louisburg USD 416, and they’ll say it’s physically impossible to get blood from a stone. But for all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what the State of Kansas is asking of school districts in the Sunflower State, and Louisburg’s is no exception. The budget has recently been the topic of serious discussion at meetings of the Louisburg USD 416 Board of Education, as district leadership seeks ways to minimize the damage of approximately $1 million in cuts to the budget for the coming 2010-2011 academic year. Superintendent Sharon Zoellner took the discussion on the road Monday, so to speak, for a meeting of the all-school site council. The three councils — one each for Louisburg High School and Louisburg Middle School, and one combined council for Rockville and Broadmoor Elementary Schools — are comprised of parents, teachers and administrative staff from throughout the school district. The chance to gather opinion from employees and patrons of the schools is invaluable, Zoellner said, at a time when the district must leave no stone unturned in its search for ways to save. “As a result of conversations, we’re already getting great ideas and people are thinking,” she said. “As I said to the group tonight, one person says something that spurs an idea from someone else, and that courageous conversation and being willing to put yourself out there and ask that question or make that suggestion is what we need to have right now. Because we’ve got to look at every nook and cranny that we can.” The numbers themselves are perhaps the clearest reflection of the severity of the situation facing the district. A ‘webinar’ from the Kansas Association of School Boards presented Monday night brought the site councils up to speed. Since budgets for the 2009-2010 academic year were published by school districts in late October, revenue shortfalls have caused the state to cut a further 4.8-percent, or $138 million, in the base aid per pupil provided for K-12 education. State-wide, school districts are being asked to cut $82.7 million from budgets. On Jan. 11, Gov. Mark Parkinson gave his State of the State address and budget report, in which he indicated the state will need to cut another $400 million from the budget in Fiscal Year 2011 if no new revenue sources are found. For schools, this could mean as much as another $187.5 million in cuts to state aid for K-12 education. Many attendees voiced their concerns and asked questions at Monday’s meeting, touching on everything from school transportation and staff cuts to the benefits of a four-day school week and ‘pay to play’ sports and activities. No decisions have been made as of yet, Zoellner said, and likely won’t be made until late March. For now, the hope is to get as many people as involved as possible, dispelling rumors and spreading the facts of the district’s situation. “I think the people working in the district are grasping it at this point,” Zoellner said, of the challenge ahead. “We’ve been talking about it for a couple of months, and we’ve been having some pretty directed meetings in the last couple of weeks.”
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Comments (2)
Brian Patterson: ...
But she has made a decision on the "pay to play" idea. I would prefer to see individuals who play high school sports foot the bill. Why should the community subsidize them to play sports and also have to lay-off people.
1
February 03, 2010
Charles Purvis: ...
How about requiring some payment from the state of Missouri for educating the Missouri kids attending USD416?
Instead of asking a science teacher how to get blood from a rock, why not ask an accounting teacher how to balance the books? If income to the district is, say, 20% below projected expenditures, then a 20% reduction is in order for all categories of spending. No one can complain; everyone underwent the same cut. It's called belt-tightening and taxpayers have to do this every day. Do the best job you can with what you've got; don't spend all your energy trying to recover money that isn't there. 2
February 06, 2010
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