Video Courtesy USD 489
By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
During Monday’s meeting, the Hays USD 489 Board of Education reviewed the proposed 2017 budget, hearing that despite the continued downward trend in state aid per pupil, the percent of funding to be used for instruction has increased.
“We have increased our budget for the money that goes into instruction,” said Tracy Kaiser, executive director of finance and support services.
“Sixty-six percent of all of our budget is going to instruction,” she said, noting the amount used for instruction is up 18 percent from last year.
Superintendent John Thissen said the percentage of the budget USD 489 spends on instruction is in line with other districts.
“Comparative-wise, one of the complaints we heard from the Legislature this year was that there was not enough money spent on instruction,” said Paul Adams, board member, asking what percentage is desired by the Legislature.
“My memory is that they’ve usually identified two-thirds,” Thissen said.
Adams then asked if there was any budget area where USD 489 is significantly different that other districts.
“Definitely, there’s one thing that’s very, very strange on this chart. It’s the zero. Most districts don’t have that,” Thissen said about the district’s debt payments.
“For us, I don’t know how many years you can go back, but its a number of years that there haven’t been payments for that,” he said. “I can tell you right off that zero is definitely out of ordinary for the majority of districts in the state.”
“By debt, you mean bond?” asked Sarah Rankin, board member.
“Exactly,” Thissen said.
Generally, however, the budget review found no major changes over last year, in part due to block grant funding from the state that remained the same, but state revenue was up slightly for the district.
However, state aid per pupil continued its downward decline.
“Our state revenues are up this year, that does include an increase in KPERS payments. Our federal revenue is up slightly, and our local revenue is down a little bit also,” Kaiser said. “The main thing is we have $283 per student less revenue than we did last year.”
In a brief history of state aid per pupil, Kaiser told the board it has been dropping since 2009.
“In 2008, our base state aid per pupil was $4,483 and that is oftentimes the number you hear when they’re talking about ‘Is the state adequately funding education?’ ” she said.
Starting in 2009, there have been four cuts to state aid per pupil, along with a 2 percent reduction in special aid, she further told the board, and again cut twice in 2011.
The Legislature increased that amount by $58 in 2013 and $14 in 2014, but other changes caused a reduction in funding.
“When they excluded virtual and new facilities weighting that year, USD 489 actually lost $99,000,” Kaiser said. “The total of all of those changes since 2008 is over $2.7 million that have affected USD 489 each and every year. So our total losses in the last eight years are over $20 million.”
During the meeting, Thissen explained to the board money in the contingency fund that has been another point of contention in the state Legislature is well in line with previous state recommendations.
“I want to make sure that everybody here is well aware that that contingency fund number of $331,000. There are a lot of people that can look numbers and say that’s a lot of money,” Thissen said. “I want people to understand that there was a time not so many years ago that the state ended up recommending 6 percent of your general fund would end up being contingency. Then they changed it to 10 percent, and now in the last couple of years there has been great criticism by legislators saying there is way too much money in there, although that was the direction that was given by the state for years.”
Having money in the reserve in case of a catastrophe is good fiscal policy he said, noting the size of the fund for the Hays district is “quite low.”
The budget also contained a raise for district staff members, which must be separately approved by the board.
“The budget does include a wage increase for all staff that are not covered under the SEIU or the HNEA-negotiated agreements,” Kaiser said. “This is really kind of a raise for those staff that we really wanted to happen last year, to go along with the HNEA-negotiated agreement.”
A public hearing on the budget will occur at the next board meeting, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, at the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th.
Budget documents can be viewed here.