With a mail-in ballot issue looming next month, Hays USD 489 officials will continue a talking tour this week touting the need and benefits of increasing the local option budget.
Ballots are scheduled to be mailed to eligible voters in USD 489 on June 11 and must be returned by noon June 27.
Superintendent Dean Katt has two stops on the speaking tour scheduled this week:
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Roosevelt Elementary School
• 11:30 a.m., Hays Ambassadors Luncheon, Thirsty’s
A complete schedule for the talking tour can be seen HERE. The district also has compiled a series of informational pieces that can be seen HERE.
The LOB increase from 30 percent to 31 percent is estimated to generate approximately $200,000 in additional revenue, money the school board has pledged would be used to fill positions that would otherwise be vacant. The board last month approved the procedural resolutions that would allow for the termination of 16 staff positions throughout the district.
Should the LOB be approved, the initial hit on the owner of the hypothetical $100,000 home would be negligible, with tax bills increasing only $2.30 in the course of an entire year. New legislation recently adopted by the state of Kansas would, however, allow the district to increase the LOB to 33 percent, which is estimated to generate an additional $450,000 annually.
The increase to 32 percent or 33 percent would be limited to one year. Should the district wish to enact a longer term, the issue would again need to go to voters for approval.
The district’s budget dilemma is multifaceted.
From 2008-09 to 2013-14, state funding to the district has decreased by approximately $1.3 million annually.
“The LOB has become a replacement for the declining revenue generated from the base state aid per pupil funding from the state, rather than being used for its original intent of providing an education beyond the adequate level,” the district wrote in an LOB explainer.
Overestimated enrollment numbers and errors in budgeting expenses had put the district in a more than $1 million budget hole for the 2014-15 school year — that after spending all the reserves in contingency funds.
Decreased funding from the state also threw the district farther into crisis mode, as the recently passed school funding law decreased anticipated state funding for new facilities improvements.
The talking tour meetings will follow Monday’s regular meeting of the school board, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Rockwell Administration Center.
On the AGENDA are ideas to increase revenue including proposed increases to workbook/enrollment fees, a fee for kindergarten, pay-to-participate fees for extracurricular activities, and various scenarios designed to either reduce busing costs or recoup more money from families who use the service.
The district also has released a program-by-program list of expenditures throughout the district, including specific costs of programs such as sports, music programs and other specialized courses. That list be be seen HERE.