Officials Say Kansas School Funding Outlook Gloomy (KS)

November 18, 2010

Kansas school districts might have to consider cutting budgets for the current year as state revenues slowly recover, education officials said Wednesday.& lt;br />

Officials estimate as much as $75 million is needed in the current budget to supplement increasing numbers of students, and more of those students need assistance because of the economy.

Kathy Cook, executive director of the group Kansas Families for Education, said districts will have to consider reducing more staff, programs or even closing schools.

"That’s the quickest way to save the most money if they don’t appropriate the supplemental aid and find something to fill the hole with the loss of stimulus dollars," Cook said.

State revenues are improving in part because of a new 1 cent increase in the state sales tax. But the growth isn’t raising enough to keep pace with spending. New projections from economists and state researchers show a gap of as much as $500 million in the 2012 Kansas budget.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jay Emler, a Lindsborg Republican who’s serving on Republican Gov.-elect Sam Brownback’s transition team, said the committee hasn’t made any decisions about the budget.

But he said there’s no appetite for a tax increase after last year’s.

"I have a great deal of difficulty figuring out where we’re going to the get the money to replace the (federal) stimulus dollars," Emler said. "What do I see? What I see is no money to replace stimulus dollars."

According to statistics prepared by the Kansas Department of Education, school districts have some 816 fewer certified staff working this fall, including 653 fewer teachers. There were an additional 844 reductions in non-certified staff, including teacher aides, paraprofessionals, maintenance and administrative staff.

Kansas received $92 million in federal funds to use for schools this year, said deputy state commissioner of education Dale Dennis, but how the money will be distributed is unknown and won’t be until legislators return in January.

Another question is whether Brownback and the large GOP majorities in the Legislature find ways to replace close to $200 million in federal funds that expire in at the end of June. Absent new state dollars, schools could see state aid reduced from the current $4,012 per student by as much as $300 per child.

"School district leaders have been presented with impossible choices," said John Heim, executive director of the Kansas Association of School Boards. "They have had to cut staff while saving for an uncertain future."

Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag said most school officials understand the predicament facing Kansas.

"The leaders of our school districts understand," she said. "They realize they may be asked to share some of the burden," Jones-Sontag said.

She said Brownback has repeatedly said he wants to protect education funding and social services as much as possible. The transition team is looking for areas in state government for savings, including restructuring programs.

"It’s going to be difficult," she said. She added that the team hopes education officials will "work with the new administration to find the best solutions."

Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson, who leaves office in January, said state finances are on better footing than in previou s years and the next budget can be balanced by continuing the transfer of money from the state lottery and highway program for one more year to replace federal funds.

"Next year’s budget is very manageable. It is not a crisis," Parkinson said. "It does not require dramatic cuts. It does not require a tax increase. It just requires the kind of business decisions that I was able to make as governor."