Two in, one out for extra school funding in western Kan.

Office of the Kansas Governor

TOPEKA– The State Finance Council today reviewed five “exceptional needs” requests for a total of $877,478 in requests. Funding for three districts was approved for a total of $301,551.

The exceptional needs fund was established as part of SB 7, the historic K-12 education block grant passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. With the block grant, state aid appropriations for all 286 Kansas school districts has increased for 2014-2015.

The fund allows school districts to request additional funds to meet specific needs resulting from the following specific circumstances:

· Extraordinary increase in enrollment
· Extraordinary reduction in assessed valuation
· Extraordinary reduction in revenue to the school district
· Unforeseen circumstances which substantially impact the school district’s general fund budget.

“Even though every school district in the state has received more state aid funding for 2014-2015, we understand that remnants of the old funding formula continue to create challenges,” said Governor Brownback. “As we go forward, the block grant will allow schools more flexibility in determining priorities in spending their money.”

Requests were received from the following school districts:
· USD 457 – Garden City requested $134,048. Request approved.
· USD 240 – Twin Valley (Bennington/Tescott) requested $75,000. Funding in the amount of $28,183 to cover changes in funding to capital outlay was approved.
· USD 263 – Mulvane requested $447,772. Funding in the amount of $139,320 was approved.

Funding requests from USD 237 Smith Center requesting $108,000 and USD 252 South Lyon County requesting $112,658 were not approved.

This was the second time the council met to review funding requests. On May 5, five school districts received $478,016 in additional funding. For the first time ever, the State of Kansas will spend more than $4 billion to support K-12 education.

The Governor looks forward to working with the Legislature to craft a new formula that provides sustainable, stable, predictable funding for public schools.