Dr. Craig Neuenswander said at Monday night’s board meeting he thinks USD 257 can deal with state aid cuts, the remainder of this school year and also next year.
The district faces a loss of $315,179 by June 30. Of that, $145,000 is from a $75 reduction in base state aid per pupil, the remainder from enrollment decreases.
Neuenswander, superintendent of schools, noted that $209,000 could be saved by making smaller transfers within the general fund budget, after having built in cushions in funds for such things as at-risk education, food service and special education. Another $43,000 will be saved by utility costs not being as high as anticipated. Thirdly, the district has received federal reimbursements on some technology purchases, which have totaled nearly $66,000.
Those total $316,750, enough to deal with the state aid loss.
Next year Neuenswander thinks the district will be short about $535,000, including $413,000 from a $157 per-pupil state aid cut, $26,000 more for property insurance and fuel and an additional $84,000 for increased health insurance costs. Fuel costs also may become more cumbersome if the recent trend, which saw gasoline increase 40 cents a gallon in less than a month, continues.
“We have $500,000 in contingency reserves,” Neuenswander said, but prefers to use no more than $200,000 and keep in hand $300,000 for unforeseen or extraordinary expenses.
He proposed reducing by half expenditures for equipment, technology and supplies, books and custodial supplies, to save $210,000 and pointed out another $18,000 would be saved by a personnel change. That would leave the district a little over $94,000 in the hole.
“I’m not ready to make other recommendations,” Neuenswander said, pending what might occur in the Legislature, where several proposals could reduce state aid even more.
Options he listed included closing Crossroads alternative school, $203,000; reducing activities and eliminating summer school, combinations of which could reach $200,000; returning kindergarten to half day, $165,000; going to a four-day week, $101,000; and reducing staff. Also mentioned was the annual payment the district makes for use of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center, $126,000.
BOARD MEMBERS approved some expenditures.
They purchased two buses, a 29-passenger unit for $52,031 and a 72-passenger bus for $67,950, from Kansas Truck, Wichita. Also, they accepted the lower bid of $3,732 from Advanced Cabinet Systems, Iola, for installing cabinets in the building trades house.
The driver education fee this summer will remain at $125.
When the district began building houses in LaHarpe, the city gave several lots to the district. Two houses were built before attention was shifted to the Cedarbrook Addition in Iola. LaHarpe has a buyer interested in the remaining lots there. Board members agreed to relinquish ownership so, as Neuenswander put it, “they may be put to a useful purpose.”
