Winfield’s alternative high school and other specialized programs will be the first to suffer if funding for local schools continues to shrink, USD 465 Superintendent Marvin Estes says.
With the state’s legislative session wrapping and the fiscal year coming to an end June 30, Estes expects to start getting an idea soon about how the district’s budget situation will look. Already, he sees the potential for losing $500,000 or more in funding.
"I’ve not seen it this bad," says Estes, who’s been in education for decades. "There is a limit to what you can cut and maintain the quality of schools."
A one-cent sales tax passed by the state legislature helped districts avoid any more cuts for the current fiscal year, Estes says, but it’s likely more cuts will come next school year.
Exact numbers won’t be known until student counts and weighting take place. But local student numbers are dipping ? which effects the money the district gets per student ? and a federal stimulus program that brought $350,000 to the district last year, has run out.
Last school year, the district got by using reserve funds and with the help of a $400,000 carry over from the previous year. It’s unclear whether there will be much carry over this year, but reserve funds are gone, Estes says.
In the past three years, local schools have cut 14 teaching positions and district officials acknowledge that personnel cuts are a main way budgets can be cut.
"Ours is a personnel rich operation," Estes says.
School officials already know that text books will not be up for review or replacement this year, because of budget concerns. Technology and software upgrades will also be trimmed back.
Estes also has notified the Community Learning Center ? which contracts with the district to provide a specialized learning center for at-risk high school students ? that funding will drop. Though, he says, if cuts grow much more, the learning center could be scrapped altogether.
"We could absorb those (CLC) students at the high school," Estes says. "I don’t think anyone believes that’s a good idea. But you do what you have to do."
The district could also consider cutting back from whole-day to half day kindergarten. State funding only pays for half-day kindergarten, so local school districts have to rely on local funding to pay for a whole-day program.
Pay-to-play sports and other activities could also be necessary at some point.
An increase in student counts and student weighting could help alleviate the impact of budget cuts. There’s also hope that there are a enough students that qualify for free or reduce lunches to push the district to a level where extra funding is available. More at-risk students also would help the district to get more money.
"But that’s a really dubious thing to wish for," Estes says.
Information for this report is based on an audio interview with Marvin Estes conducted by KSOK Radio.
