By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board approved its 2018-19 $48.7 million budget for publication Monday night with a mill levy decrease.
The .767-mill levy decrease was the result of the end of a special mill levy of 0.646 mills for declining enrollment and an increase in assessed valuation.
The total mill levy for the school district will be 42.799 mills. The district’s local option budget will increase from 29 percent to 30 percent. The local option budget is taxes approved by a local school board and levied locally for the benefit of the local school district.
The capital outlay mill levy, which is used for maintenance, technology, vehicles and other large purchases, will stay at 8 mills.
The school board members said little about the budget at the meeting Monday.
The public hearing on the budget was set for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Rockwell Administration Center, 323 W. 12th St. Members of the public can speak at the budget hearing. Once the budget is published, the district can spend less than it has budgeted, but can’t spend more without republishing a new budget.
The school district also levies taxes for the Hays Recreation Commission. The rec commission’s general mill levy will stay at 3 mills, but its employee benefits and special liability levy will increase from 1.141 mills to 1.391 mills.
The school district has no control over the rec commission levy.
Assessed valuation for the district increased by almost $1.3 million to more than $316 million. The districts bonded indebtedness also dropped by more than $1.3 million.
The State of Kansas passed a school funding plan that will increase school funding by more than $500 million statewide over the next five years.
Hays’ total state funding increase will be about $2.1 million. The district also is forecasting it will see a federal funding increase of $156,040. However, once the loss of the declining enrollment levy, which was a temporary program, is figured into the budget, the district will gain less than $1 million in additional revenue for the coming school year.
Tracy Kaiser, director of finance, noted most of the additional funds will go toward, instruction, student support services and instructional support services.
Although the district’s total budget is $48.7 million for publication, the district will likely will not spend all of that money, as it will have carry over in funds such as capital outlay and nutrition services. The district had about $2.7 million in capital outlay carry over as of July 1.
The general fund budget is set at $18.9 million.
“The budget looks strong this year,” Kaiser said. “I feel really good about it.”
Enrollment
The school board also heard a report from assistant superintendent Shanna Dinkel on enrollment. She estimated about 89 percent of the district’s students were enrolled as of central enrollment last week. More than 1,300 of the district’s almost 3,000 projected students enrolled online prior to in-person enrollment.
Further information on enrollment numbers will be released at a later date.
The district also approved an agreement with Fort Hays State University on the use of Lewis Field.