State’s block grant funding proposal could help USD 489 budget

By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

Superintendent Dean Katt said the GOP proposal to fund schools with “block grants” instead of the current per-pupil funding formula actually will help Hays USD 489 and could result in a $316,000 increase to the district’s general fund.

At Monday’s USD 489 Board of Education meeting, Katt said it is his understanding the bill introduced last week and currently in hearings by the House Appropriations Committee will cut state aid to some school districts, but USD 489’s budget would not be adversely affected.

Katt said another proposed change deals with how the Local Option Budget is dispersed to schools, and USD 489 could gain $316,000.

“It’s all rhetoric right now, but we would not be hurt as bad as we thought,” Katt said. “We would see a little bit of a positive increase than what we had planned on in budget.”

Katt said he and the district’s Executive Director of Finance and Support Tracy Kaiser are receiving almost hourly updates from the Kansas Association of School Boards, and it’s a “wait-and-see” situation until the Legislature decides what school finance plan it will adopt.