Facts About Funding

As we are about to enter yet another legislative session, there will be much rhetoric and misinformation regarding school funding, services, etc. USD 331 contracted with Southwest Plains Regional Service Center following the Kansas Learning Network (KLN) evaluation of the schools after the district was placed “on improvement” prior to the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. USD 331 has not been “on improvement” status for two years now.

The improvement process was begun when district special needs students were not scoring at adequate levels on assessments. KLN findings included recommendations of evaluating and improving curriculum, hiring a district level curriculum director, development and implementation of walk-through observations, improvement of instruction and further integrating technology. These were just a few of the recommendations that have been developed and implemented or are under the implementation process. Completing these initiatives has been especially difficult since the deepest cuts in educational funding occurred at nearly the same time. However, several new curriculum adoptions have occurred and a curriculum leadership team has begun the process of writing the curriculum for all grade levels and subject areas. The walk-through staff observation tool was adopted and been modified to reflect best practices and research-based instructional techniques. As a result, along with changes in educational policies, neither the district nor any of its buildings are currently “on improvement” status by the state department of education.

The bar has been set higher again with the adoption of Kansas College and Career Readiness standards. Annually, the Board of Education has adopted and revised a strategic success plan to emphasize improvement goals for the district schools that includes meeting or exceeding standards. Professional learning is the key way improvements can be attained in instruction, curriculum development and preparation of our kids for their post secondary education and future careers. This is a difficult challenge when school funding is limited while all costs of educating our students increase. Furthermore, with reduced state aid, local property taxes continue to rise. Though USD 331 was able to keep the tax levy stable, it would have been lower if the state legislature met its legal obligation of funding the current school budget formula. In USD 331, since the state is not fully funding its legal equalization share of the local option budget, the property tax mill levy is 2.57 mills. Simply put, local taxpayers could be paying 2.57 mills less. State equalization is not funded at all with regard to capital outlay that also costs the local taxpayers and the base aid per pupil funding law is supposed to be $4492. We received $3838 this school year.

The CEO and consultants of Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, along with a subcommittee of superintendents, developed the attached “K-12 Education Funding – The Clear Facts.”  As you review the document, I trust you will find the vision is clear and it is powerful. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me. We need all of your support to continue helping improve student learning opportunities. Every one of us benefits.

Thank you and best wishes for a wonderful new year!