The Iola school district has to wait to sell less than an acre of land because it includes a dilapidated metal building.
The Humboldt school district needs to seek the state’s permission before it can sell a house built by students as part of a construction trades class.
And the ANW Cooperative will need to weather the costly expense of maintaining an old school building through another winter in Chanute, while taking the risk that potential buyers could find something else before the state grants approval of a sale.
Those are local examples of the unintended consequences of a law passed late in the last legislative session that gives the state “the right of first refusal” when a district wants to sell a school building. It’s a problem statewide, too, Craig Neuenswander, deputy commissioner of fiscal and administrative services for the Kansas Department of Education, said.
De Soto is facing problems selling a former elementary school near a planned Panasonic plant. Other districts questioned if they can sell concession stands, sheds and even bus barns.
“The confusion and delays are consistent across the state,” Neuenswander said.
NEUENSWANDER, who was USD 257’s superintendent of schools from 1999 to 2011, said his office has fielded numerous calls from districts across the state seeking guidance about the law.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much we can tell them,” he said.
“There’s a difference between the intent of the law and what it actually says. You have to go by what it says.”
Neuenswander said he has talked with lawmakers and believes they will quickly address the matter when they convene in January. He has heard that a lawmaker has already drafted a bill to clarify the definition of a school attendance center.
THE LAW is intended to offer school facilities to state agencies if a district no longer needs the building. The building-buying provision was part of a flurry of last-minute additions to a school funding bill.
At the time, some lawmakers and school administrators raised concerns the state was overriding the authority of school boards and the new law could shift facilities built with taxpayer dollars to private schools. Proponents argued it could solve problems by finding new uses for old, unused buildings that districts have to maintain at taxpayer expense.
Regardless, the practical application of the law has caused a lot of headaches.
“The biggest issue seems to be what is the definition of a building. It refers to another statute and it says literally any building used for school purposes,” Neuenswander said.
“The other issue is the timing.”
