Posted 03/05/2010

School Finance Litigation (.pdf)

Posted 02/04/2010

Updated Potential Budget Reductions (.pdf)

Posted 01/12/2010

As you are probably well aware of, the school district needs to eliminate approximately $510,000 of expenses for the upcoming school year due to reduced budget authority and declining enrollment. At last nights meeting, the board of education identified the areas they would reduce, if the decision to reduce had to be made this month. These possible reductions can be viewed here: Potential Budget Reductions 01.11.10 (.pdf)

However, this is still only January and we must let the legislative process run it course. It is my estimation there will be numerous peaks and valleys in the area of school finance over the next three to four months as the legislature discusses this issue. The thing you will need to remember is, if there are further reductions made to the budget, we may have to reduce further or if additional revenue is found, we may be able to lighten up on the reductions.

Due to the volatility of upcoming budget process, we can not give a definitive answer as to what will be definitely reduced, nor how much we will finally end up reducing. All the attachment is showing is what would be reduced, if there had to be $510,000 reduced at the January board meeting. For right now, the items with 7 and 6 xís are the items the board identified for possible reduction/additional revenue. Some of the items will need to be negotiated, but if they arenít agreed upon, additional reductions will have to be possibly made. I will attempt to keep you aware of what is going on with the legislative process as well issues facing the school district as the legislative process begins.

Thanks,

Dr. Steve Pegram, Superintendent

Santa Fe Trail School District

US Hwy. 56 - PO Box 310

Carbondale, KS 66414

Posted 11/30/09

List of potential budget reductions items:

Establish
160 Day School Year (reduced busing, food service, para support, utilities) Personnel Student Activities Supplies Maintenance Curriculum Memberships Student Activities Personnel/Programs Dr. Steve Pegram, Superintendent
Santa Fe Trail School District
US Hwy. 56 - PO Box 310
Carbondale, KS  66414
785.665.7168

posted 11/24/2009

From: Dr. Steve Pegram

Subject: Effect of the State Budget Reductions on the SFT School District.

The school district has received word we will be taking a $206 per student FTE reduction.  The school district has an estimated FTE of 1,674 students.  This reduction would result in a $344,844 reduction of funds for THIS school year.  So, what does this mean to you?

For the 2009-2010 school year, this will not mean a lot to you.  As the superintendent of schools, every effort will be made to fulfill the contractual obligations we have made with every employee.  I do not believe, at this time, we will need to consider furloughs or dismissing school district staff.  It is my honest belief we will be able to weather this round of state budget reductions, but we’re going to have to be as frugal as possible.

As for the 2010-2011 school year, I can make no promises of employment, nor current lengths of contracts.  Everything we do will have to be evaluated.  Some services will be reduced, while others will be eliminated.  Not only will we have to reduce the $350,000 (rounded), we must estimate another reduction of 47 students for declining enrollment or an additional total of $198,000.  What we are headed for, as of now, is a budget reduction of somewhere around $550,000, which could possibly grow before July.  This is the known; the unknown is what the legislature will do for the 2010-2011 school year.  Will they attempt to do away with special interest tax credits, will they demand additional reductions or will they do a combination?  I don’t know, but the 2010-2011 budget projections do not look good now.

Sometime today I will send out yet another recession list.  This is my list with very little input from anyone else.  I have not intended to get personal in regards to any area of possible reductions, but did try to identify anything we can do away with or reduce.  If there is something not listed you believe should be, let me know and I will add it.

This will be a very tough task for the board of education, but as in the past they will address the issue.  This isn’t about moving people around the school district, this is more about operating with the revenue we still have.  I will make every effort to keep you updated, but as I informed you earlier, there are issues with negotiations and the time needed to allow the legislature to do their job.

posted 11/10/2009

State Budget Woes to Cause Adverse Effects on Osage County School Districts

Due to the current budget conditions of the State of Kansas, school districts across the state have been notified to expect another budget reduction of $150-$270 per weighted Full Time Equivalency (FTE) for the current school year. This loss of revenue will have a major impact on Osage County School Districts this school year and an even greater adverse impact in the 2010-2011 school year due to the county’s declining student enrollment.The following are projections of the immediate impact on county school districts for the 09-10 school year and the potential impact on the 10-11 school year.

  09-10 Projected Declining Enrollment 10-11 budget
Burlingame -$84,000/-$152,000 -5 Students/$21,000 -$105,000/-$172,000
Lyndon -$107,000/-$192,000 -10 Students/$42,000 -$149,000/-$234,000
Marais Des Cygnes Valley -$81,000/-$146,000 -10 Students/$42,000 -$123,000/-$188,000
Osage City -$160,000/-$289,000 -30 Students/$127,000 -$287,000/-$416,000
Santa Fe Trail -$255,000/-$459,000 -46 Students/$195,000 -$450,000/-$650,000

How county school districts choose to address this immediate and long-term budget reduction will be determined at the local level with the strategies they have available to them. Some school districts still have the potential to increase their Local Option Budget. (Increase the local property tax.) Other school districts do not have this option since there currently using this option to its fullest amount. All school districts will have to review everything they do and determine where they can reduce expenses in their school district, (Additional LOB authority is not available to help with the 09-10 year. The levies have been set.) These reductions will probably include reducing student programs, school personnel, student activities and increasing class size just in an attempt to survive as a school district.

There will be a lot of finger pointing as to how we got into this financial position, most will cite the current recession as being the only factor causing the current Kansas financial short coming, when in fact this is not true. In previous years the Kansas Legislature intentionally and knowingly overspent state revenue in excess of $400 million two years in a row, while at the same time cutting state revenue sources (tax breaks). Anyone with any business sense knows one cannot spend more than is received and not create a budget problem. (Anyone that is but the Kansas Legislature.) Thus, the issue of over spending and tax breaks, compounded with the current recession has gotten us to the point where the schools we currently know, will soon become a thing of the past. A school district’s primary goal will change from student achievement to school survival.

In a cost study analysis prepared by the legislative post audit, post audit found the following,

“We found a strong association between the amounts districts spend and the outcomes they achieve. In the cost function results, a 1% increase in district performance outcomes was associated with a .83% increase in spending—almost a one-to-one relationship. This means that, all other things being equal, districts that spent more had better student performance. The results were statistically significant beyond the .01 level, which means we can be more than 99% confident there is a relationship between spending and outcomes.”

This finding by post audit should also work in reverse. As spending is reduced districts should see a reduction in student achievement due to spending less. Is this what we want for our students, lower student achievement?

As we move into this time period of reduced budgets and the reduction of the school systems we know, it is important the voters of the county express their concerns to their legislative representatives. There will be some who will welcome these budget reductions to our county school districts, while others will have some grave concerns with the future of the schools in Osage County and how this crisis affects our students. Whichever you believe, you should be in communication with your elected officials regarding this issue.