The USD 490 Board of Education received an update on what the budget could look like for next year during their meeting Monday evening.
"We don't know yet," said Norm Wilks, director of fiscal services, of the possible operating cuts for 2010-2011. "What you have here is a range of what may happen. We don't know at this point what that may be."
According the Kansas Association of School Boards if there is not additional revenue, districts may see cuts from the base budget up to $600 per pupil. The district currently receives $4,012 per pupil.
The possible cuts range from $216,000 to about $1.8 million.
"It's hard to say here's what we need to do," Wilks told the board.
The board members were given compiled lists of possible cuts from those they had ranked prior to the meeting.
"If you look at the list, there is nothing that is absolutely agreed to at this point," he said.
But it does give the district an idea of what to consider. They will try to balance those cuts with the board's goal of student achievement.
"It provides us and you at least some additional information when at some point we find out what we need to plan toward," he said. "I don't think there will be any clear direction until mid-April."
Wilks said when they do get the final numbers on the budget, they will need to make some serious choices in a fairly short time.
"This is not something we need to be making a decision on right now," he said.
One suggestion that ranked high among the board members was to reduce summer school to four days a week, which they went ahead and did.
Superintendent Sue Givens said they are looking at opportunities for cuts as they come up.
"Primarily the number one way is when we have a resignation, looking at other ways to staff that," Givens said. "We want to be preventive when opportunities arise. It would be a lot better to come and add back in."
In addition to looking at their local budget, Wilks also encouraged board members to – as the legislative session comes to a close – stay engaged in the conversation and convey the message if there is not the revenue to support programs, whose responsibility it will be to provide those resources.
"We need to decide collectively as a state what it is we're going to fund and what we're going to expect for that funding," Wilks said.
