By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
In a light meeting, the Hays USD 489 Board of Education heard reports Monday night on budget and facilities maintenance that could be supported by a bond issue in the future.
Before getting into the nuts and bolts of the budget, the superintendent’s report addressed initial problems with elementary school enrollment last week, saying it was progressing well.
“I thought it would be a bigger mess than it was,” said superintendent Dean Katt.
Online enrollment would not let users log on during the first day of enrollment, but a workaround was quickly identified.
Users were enrolling online by the afternoon of the first day and enrollment was available at the schools almost immediately.
Shanna Dinkel, director of curriculum, addressed the same issue late in the meeting, noting parents with children to be processed in the middle school and high school enrollment should have already received a code to allow access to the online system.
In the first matter of new business, board members heard a budget report from Tracy Kaiser, executive director of finance and support services.
The board addressed a few specific budget lines within the document that seemed substantially higher than previous years.
When questioned, Kaiser explained due to the block funding system established by Kansas for this upcoming year and the way funding is now allocated to the district made those numbers look higher than the most likely will be.
The budget reflects the amount the district has the budget authority to spend, but will likely spending will be in line with previous years, saving a district emergency, such as damage from a severe storm or other major catastrophe.
The budget as outlined ”in some way (are) just keeping us on an even keel,” board member Paul Adams noted.
The board approved the budget hearing, which is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17 in the Toepfer Board Room in the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th. Interested parties can view the budget information at the Rockwell Center prior to the meeting.
The board also heard initial reports from HTK Architects on a bond issue proposed to fund repair and upgrade of facilities throughout the district.
The report broke down each district facility and by needs and wants, but the process is far from a complete.
The board will continue to look at the plan and adjust as needed going forward.
In the meantime, with the closure and repurposing of Washington Elementary, the plan will need changed before HTK can dial in the expected cost of the complete project, which will keep facilities in the district current for an expected 20 some years.
HTK representative Zach Snethen said the update was intended to keep the board informed of the state of the facilities as they continue looking forward.
While there are some issues plaguing the district currently, like a lack of sufficient space in storm shelters, an auditorium that often overflows, and equipment that has hit the limit of its effective life – causing repairs to be difficult – the bond issue that would potentially fund the maintenance is likely quite a way down the road.
The current plan would include over $100 million in needed maintenance.
“Yeah, it’s a big number,” Snethen said.
The budget can be found here.