USD 210 |
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Hugoton Public Schools |
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Central Office 205 E. 6th Street Hugoton, KS 67951 620.544.4397 |
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School Closing Information [ pdf ] |
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Past Letters From the Superintendent |
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May 10, 2010
From the Superintendent’s Desk,
The last two school years have truly been challenging and unusual in light of our current recession. School districts across the state have experienced over a 5% decrease in their general fund budgets. The budget authority for every Kansas school district is calculated through a formula involving our enrollment numbers multiplied by $4012 per student. At the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, this per student budget number was $4492. Overall, our budget authority for this school year has dropped $120,000.00 from last year. This amount could have been much greater, but our percentage of free lunch students has increased significantly from 38% to over 50%. This qualified our district for additional at-risk monies. Many districts you hear about in the news have been hit much harder. The unsettling news is more serious school funding reductions may be yet to come. One Kansas House budget predicts USD 210 could lose as much as $500,000.00 for the 2010-2011 school year. Many conservative law makers feel we cannot raise any new taxes and we must rely solely on cutting our state entities more to balance the budget. Currently, there are signs in our state capital that legislatures are serious about not reducing K-12 education any more. At USD 210, we are hoping for the best and planning for the worst.
Reduction of staff at USD 210: On April 29, 2010, the Hermes reported our district would have 5.5 less teachers and 5 less support staff this coming school year. That is correct if you count attrition and staff reductions over the course of the last two years. Because staff salaries/payroll makes up 80% of our general fund, cutting staff is the main way for a school district to significantly reduce costs and survive during times of budget reductions.
Construction and new schools during a recession: The USD 210 School Board has been asked to make some very hard decisions about the reduction of staff and at the same time we are approving spending for construction and capital outlay projects. Some patrons have asked if this is the right time to be improving our facilities and opening new schools. This is a timely question that deserves some attention. On November 2008, the voters of this county approved a $21 million bond issue to build new facilities. This voter approved ballot question constitutes a promise from our school board to the citizens of this county that we will spend these monies for this purpose. In fact, it is illegal for us to spend the bond money for any other purpose. In addition, Capital Outlay monies generated from Steven County’s high assessed valuation can only be used for specific purposes as well. Together these monies are very significant, yet cannot be used to pay teachers, support staff or administration. Less Mills Needed to Levy $21 million: The Board of Education received good news from our financial advisor Steve Shogren at our last April Board meeting. When voters approved the bond issue it was estimated a levy of 6.27 mills over 15 years would be needed to generate $21 million. The good news is our projections at this time are the average mill rate for 15 years should be just 5.5 instead of 6.27. This would be a total district savings to tax payers of $1.8 million. Anti-public education groups: Finally, please realize whenever you hear or read a paid advertisement from Americans for Prosperity or the Kansas Policy Institute these organizations are very anti-public education. They are underwritten and funded by privately held, large corporations. Many of our state legislatures experience intimidation from corporately funded lobbyists to avoid any tax increases and to increase corporate tax incentives, abatements and the eroding of our tax system. This is especially true in Sedgwick and Johnson counties where the majority of Kansans live and work. If this recession has taught us anything, I hope it forces us to look at our broken tax infrastructure. Let us not forget 1992, and how the voters of Stevens County and SW Kansas wanted to get the attention of the rest of the state when millions of dollars were removed from school districts and our county and have been sent to Topeka on a annual basis. Don Concannon lobbied then for changes in our tax system and fair funding for our schools. Most people would agree our current tax system has eroded even more since 1992 and they are concerned about its over reliance on property taxes.
Sincerely, Mark Crawford Superintendent of Schools
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Mark Crawford Superintendent |
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Davonna Daharsh Finance Manager/ Federal Funds & Food Service |
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Melanie Hickey Secretary |
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Debbie Theye BOE Clerk |
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Max Williams Payroll Clerk |