School officials could barely disguise their disgust with last week’s legislation that addresses school funding.
“It was introduced last Tuesday and passed on Thursday,” Jack Koehn, superintendent of USD 257, told board members at their meeting Monday night.
“As you can tell, they took a lot of time and really thought this through,” he said, his words dripping with sarcasm.
If Gov. Sam Brownback approves the legislation, Iola schools will see $89,322 removed from a fund whose purpose is to directly aid classrooms.
A “workaround” can be had where local taxpayers can make up the funding lost, Koehn said.
“That’s going to go over real well,” he said.
Trustee Darrell Catron said, “I don’t think this legislation is going to satisfy the court.”
“I hope it doesn’t,” Koehn replied, referring to the mandate issued by the State Supreme Court for legislators to adequately fund state schools.
The legislation changes the formula for how it funds a district’s local options budget — money that helps make purchases in the classroom. A district’s other special budget is called capital outlay, which is used to improve buildings and structures.
A district’s LOB is determined by the property value of the district.
The new law allows the state to figure its aid to a district’s LOB using the same formula it uses for capital outlay, which is at a lower rate. For the upcoming year, the difference between the old and new funding amounts will be put into a fund called “Hold Harmless.”
In Iola’s case, its former LOB fund received $189,235 more than the new formula, but it will receive $99,914 in hold harmless funding. If the board chooses, that funding may be used to offset the loss of some state aid in the LOB fund, leaving $89,322 for local taxpayers to make up.
Legislators atone for the cuts by saying districts can raise their property taxes by however much they lose in state funds.
“This legislation keeps the playing field uneven for Kansas schools, with distinct winners and losers,” Koehn said.
