When local school board officials received the budget for the upcoming school year Monday night they saw in stark relief the difference between being born with a silver spoon in your mouth — and not.
And lest you wonder, most schools in southeast Kansas are on the wrong side of the proverbial tracks.
In his budget presentation Superintendent Jack Koehn graphically illustrated how area taxpayers — though taxed at the maximum limit -— are unable to generate adequate income for USD 257 schools.
The district’s biggest budgets are the general fund and the local options budget that rely, in part, on two separate mill levies at 20 mills and 17.315 mills respectively. Both levies provide funds for general operating expenses, primarily salaries and instruction supplies.
These two funds require more than $10 million. Of that, the local mill levies generate a little more than $1.76 million. Were we in Johnson County, those same two mill levies would generate more than $96 million.
“So when I talk about equalization and how important it is, this should come screaming across at you to say it’s pretty important,” Koehn said.
Clearly, not all things are equal for our schools or our students and it’s our job to impress upon legislators that if the state insists on further cuts to government not everyone has the wherewithal to make up the difference.
— Susan Lynn
