Holton seeking .915 mill increase
At a special meeting here on Monday evening, the Holton school board took the time to focus solely on the proposed new budget for the upcoming school year and to hear input from Superintendent Dennis Stones and Assistant Superintendent Joe Kelly.
While the future of school funding is still up in the air, with the legality of the block grant system to be argued in the Kansas Supreme Court in the coming year, school districts across Kansas still must plan for the present. That has certainly been tough with the delayed release of budget documents and other information.
In fact, the only things that Stones said he was told will be guaranteed in the coming school year are the funds that were provided as state aid in 2014-2015. Those will remain the same for the upcoming school year.
Still, budget authority and state aid for 2015-2016 were discussed by the board on Monday and both Stones and Kelly were quick to point out the misleading nature of some of the figures.
Regarding the proposed budget authority for USD 336, Stones said those numbers will look inflated because a stipulation of the block grant lumps all of the aid (general, LOB, KPERS, capital outlay and SPED) together, whereas a year ago the state aid all went to its respective individual fund.
The current total proposed budget authority is set for $28,109,579 as opposed to $21,009,894 in actual expenditures a year ago.
Net expenditures for the coming year, however, are actually expected to be $21,804,226. That includes $1.46 million in bond payments for the new elementary school, plus the fund transfers previously mentioned.
Where the funding will have the most impact is on the general fund budget authority ($11,181,761 FY 16 as opposed to FY 15 where it was $7,312,512 because more money is being placed in the general fund, but it will be allocated to their respective funds.
In some cases, like the state pension funding of KPERS ($1,279,081), the money will hardly stay with the district at all and then go back to the state.
“Otherwise, it’s apples to apples,” Stones said of the funding.
Stones also pointed out that with the new block grant, some of the district’s own aid is being pulled back out to help finance the extraordinary aid fund, which is part of the new funding system.
In addition, receiving money from that fund is handled by the state on a case-by-case basis and districts are required to apply. Stones noted numerous school districts have already been turned down for the extraordinary aid.
While there may be some differences in state aid and funding, Kelly noted one major figure that won’t change much in the district for 2015-2016 is the total mills levied.
Losses in the district motor vehicle taxes seemed to signal a major hike in the total mill levy, but due to an increase in assessed valuation ($42,228,018 to $43,664,418) for the school district the mill levy will increase by only .9 mills from 57.827 to 58.742 in the new proposed budget.
Stones noted the district is also hoping to supplement its state aid with funding received from the Fresh Start virtual school, which is estimated to account for $517,105.
In reality, everything is still in flux, though. Those numbers are by no means a sure thing and the district’s budget authority could be subject to change. The board could potentially lower it and the district may not end up having to use the full authority. Stones noted the meeting was mainly to “publicize the maximum authority the district needs.”
After the discussion, the board voted, 7-0, to publish the proposed budget in today’s edition of The Holton Recorder.
Other business approved by the board on Monday included the stipends for the new teachers’ mentors, which were set at $500. That one-time $500 stipend will be given to six Holton teachers, to be named at a later date, who are selected to help the educators who are new to the district this school year.
Very briefly, the board also discussed an issue some members have noticed with regular education paraprofessionals switching to special education in the district because of a noticeable wage gap ($12.10/hr. for SPED, $9.45/hr for regular education). It was brought up as something to look into at a future meeting.
New hires and resignations were also made, with Stones noting that Inga Kelly is taking over as the gifted teacher for the entire special education cooperative, so the district will be hiring some gifted paras to help Kelly better serve the entire co-op.
The board approved the hiring of Kallie Stallbaumer (SPED para, Central), Kendra Porter (SPED para, Central) and Melanie Woltje (SPED gifted para) and also approved the resignations of Carolyn Nightengale (SPED para, Central), Christian Slay (SPED para, RVES), Kallie Stallbaumer (reg. ed. para, Central) and Donna McClane (SPED para, RV). All members were present and the meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m.
