Stones outlines budget concerns

The new "block grant'' way that the state of Kansas will fund its K-12 public schools, for the next two years at least, "possibly will make us (schools) do things we've never had to do before,'' according to Dennis Stones, superintendent of the Holton district.

In his report to the school board here Monday evening, Stones said that while the State Legislature has determined that block grants will be used to fund K-12 public education, it has not yet passed a funding bill to fund the new plan.

"There's a $600 million hole in the state budget that has to be filled,'' Stones said.

Stones said that at a recent legislative public forum in Holton with State Rep. Becky Hutchins and State Sen. Dennis Pyle, he asked the state legislators to be honest with Kansans about what the State Legislature is doing.

"I don't deny that our district is scheduled to receive $301,000 in new money in the name of education next year,'' Stones said. "But I believe people should be told that $276,000 of that new money will go directly to KPERS payments (retirement funds for state workers), leaving only about $25,000 in new money for our classrooms.''

Stones said the new block grant way of funding schools will eliminate part of what's called Local Option Budget (LOB) state aid, meaning the Holton district will be required to increase its mill levy by two to three mills starting next year to keep pace with where it is now budget-wise.

"We can't make up the difference in capital outlay because we are already at the 8 mill maximum,'' he said.

The net loss to the district will be about $48,000, he said.

Stones said he is worried that the State Legislature may reduce state aid in an attempt to fill the $600 million budget shortfall that now looms.

If that happens, Stones said, any delay in the payments that the school districts receive from the state could jeopardize whether districts have enough cash on hand to fulfill payroll obligations.

Recently, school staff reported, a payment to the district from the state was delayed by a week.

"We have a $600,000 contingency fund but our payroll exceeds $1 million each month,'' Stones said. "So you can see the financial trouble we'd be in.

That's where we are. Everybody in the state is in the same boat.''

In a related matter, the board approved a plan for the high school to seek additional sponsorship and advertising revenue through commercialization of its sports programs. High school staff sought and received approval from the board to seek business support in exchange for business banners placed on football and running track fences.

Rod Wittmer, high school principal, said a few years ago he was opposed to the commercialization of high school sports. "Now we're trying to prepare for the unforeseen.''

Meanwhile, a renovation project at the high school auditorium that has been on the backburner for some time, may also need some special fundraising efforts to get completed, school officials said.

School board member Allen Arnold called the HHS auditorium "a disgrace the way it is'' but the cost to renovate it may cost $250,000 to $300,000, it was reported.

The auditorium needs everything from new seats to curtains and lights, it was reported. The current lights in the auditorium? No one knows for sure that they will work when the light switch is flipped on.

At a time in the school year when plans are routinely being approved for summer maintenance and repairs at the schools, Holton is determining the cost to replace all the water faucets at the high school and may not be able to replace them all, it was reported.

The water faucets leak, increasing the district's monthly water bill, replacement kits don't work on them, and the cost to replace them was placed at about $150 apiece. Besides being leaky, the water faucets in the bathrooms do not look good any more, it was reported, due to incorrect chemicals used on them.

Two hot water tanks need to be replaced at the high school also, it was reported. Only one 100-gallon hot water tank works at the high school so there is no back-up.

"We need to replace both of them. We'll go as far as we can go, but we may fix just one,'' Stones said.

There is a lot of interest in installing lights at the running track, it was reported. Besides the middle school and high school track teams, there are a lot of school patrons who walk at the track daily until it gets too dark. Lights would increase the use of the track and the safety of the track.