Substitutes in USD 257 will get a bit of a raise next year.
They’ll be paid $105 for every day they work, instead of $95.
Superintendent Stacey Fager said the change will make the district a little more competitive with others in the area.
The school board met Monday night to handle a bit of annual housekeeping. Most of the administrative staff had the night off, and the board won’t meet again this month, so it was a light agenda.
The board agreed to keep their schedule the same, with meetings at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month except for July and December, when they meet only once.
Fager said many districts meet just once a month, but he preferred having the two. It allows board members to more quickly address issues as they arise. Board members agreed.
THE BOARD accepted a gift of $4,056.04 from G&W Foods, as part of its receipt collection program. The money was collected during the 2019-2020 school year.
It will be used to support school activities at every building, with 35% given to both the high school and middle school, and 10% to each of the elementary schools.
THE MOST in-depth discussion of the night came about because of a new rule from the state legislature.
Kansas lawmakers in the past session approved a new measure aimed at avoiding automatic tax increases when the county’s assessed valuation increases.
They ordered counties, municipalities and school districts to follow a “revenue neutral rate.” It’s defined as the property tax rate in mills that would generate the same property tax revenue in dollars as levied during the previous tax year using the current tax year’s total assessed valuation, according to information released by the League of Kansas Municipalities, the lobbying organization for city and county government officials.
School districts were added to the law late in the process, Fager said.
The board will need to jump through a few extra hoops if their budget exceeds that amount.
“From what I hear from Greenbush, I expect every district will exceed the revenue neutral rate,” Fager said.
The board had to pass a resolution outlining where it expects to exceed the rate.
“This gives the district flexibility knowing this is the rate we can go to as we work on our budget,” he said.
