Iola school board members accepted the district’s 2015-16 budget, which calls for a 4.7 mill increase, at their meeting Monday night.
The mill levy still is lower than it was two years ago after state lawmakers — under orders from the Kansas Supreme Court — revamped their local option budget (LOB) equalization funding. Then, the district’s property taxes were reduced from 52 to 44 mills for 2014-15. For 2015-16, the mill levy will be 49.13.
This year school districts were required to report supplemental general state aid, capital outlay state aid, KPERS aid and special education funds as part of their general fund. The additional categories make a district’s budget appear larger than general fund reports in previous years. The general fund budget for USD 257 is $12,495,893.
Although these additional items are lumped into the general fund they will be used elsewhere for the district’s budget. The money allotted for special education, $2,760,000, goes directly to ANW Cooperative. Capital outlay state aid, $146,219, will be used for maintenance and technology purposes.
A lease-purchase proposal for a new chiller for the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, which costs $87,312, was accepted. The board agreed to work with Community National Bank at 3.125 percent interest rate for the lease-purchase proposal. The previous chiller was 16 years old.
All school administrators will receive a 4 percent raise and classified staff will receive a 3 percent raise. These raises were made possible by the district saving money in various departments, such as the switch to an outside food service provider.
In other news:
— Board members were assigned to board committees.
— Rick Crowell was hired as a bus driver, Kasey Roach was hired as an Age to Age Preschool paraprofessional and Shawn Johns was hired as Crossroads director.
— Resignations were accepted from Kathy Shelby as a paraprofessional, Tim Siebel as Crossroads director and Becky Carlson as Iola Middle School track coach. Separation of employment was accepted from Gina Totman.
USD 257 school board approves 4.7-mill increase
