KS Association of School Boards on Reducing School District Balances

Committee to continue looking into proposal to reduce school district balances, but several members opposed to the idea

House Education Budget Committee Chairwoman Amanda Grosserode, R-Lenexa, on Thursday said the committee would continue looking into the issue of reducing school district cash carryover balances, but several committee members said they weren't inclined to support such a proposal because schools may face budget cuts.

The state's government efficiency consultant, Alvarez & Marsal, has said many school districts have "excess" cash balances and the state could reduce that amount by $193 million over five years to reduce state funding of schools.

Here is a link to KASB's response to the A&M recommendations.

At one point during the discussion, Grosserode said she was hesitant to move forward on this recommendation because schools may be looking at budget cuts because of the state's revenue problems. Total tax receipts to the state fell $54 million short of estimates, a 15 percent miss.

Vice Chairman William Sutton, R-Gardner, said he had a problem "punishing" school districts "for saving up for a rainy day. Guess what, it's raining."

And Rep. Jerry Henry, D-Atchison, warned that because of the revenue crunch, the recommendation to lower school district balances may come up at the end of the session and many legislators would be pressured to approve it.

Grosserode decided the committee would continue to seek more information about ending balances of school districts.

The committee also decided to continue looking into two more A&M recommendations and asked that preliminary language for legislation be drawn up for them.

Those include a recommendation that calls for more collaboration between school districts and the state in purchasing services and equipment and expanding participation of the school districts in a property and casualty pool.