After Governor Sam Brownback’s decision to cut funding for public schools in Kansas by 1.5 percent, school districts are having to find ways to adjust their own budgets. The Wichita School Board did just that at a meeting on Monday night.
The tone was tense. Governor Brownback’s funding cuts will affect Wichita Public Schools to the tune of just over $3 million—which is less than 1 percent of its overall budget. Jim Freeman is the district’s chief financial officer.
“We are not going to lay anybody off, there will be no reductions in force for this fiscal year,” Freeman said. “However, we will look very closely at vacancies that we are trying to fill.”
Freeman said some of those vacancies may go unfilled, while expressing the difficulty of reducing a budget so far into a district’s fiscal year.
He said the district will save money from low fuel prices and a mild winter, which means lower utility bills.
Freeman said the district will have to look very closely at its expenditures moving forward, identifying any possible savings.
“Every year there are certain parts of our budget that may not be used,” Freeman said. “If we estimated we were going to spend $50,000 on an item or a service, and it wound up costing only $40,000, rather than spending it on something else or using it as cash carryover, we’re going to start using it to help offset a reduction in revenues.”
He didn’t rule out dipping into the district’s cash carryover, which is a savings account that currently contains $14.8 million. He says that may be necessary as the state considers further changes to school funding. He warned that these most recent cuts could be just the beginning.
“Quite frankly, the state is in terrible shape,” Freeman said. “And, we’re a big chunk of the (state’s education funding).”
He said current legislation at the state level looks to change the school finance formula and cut capital outlay funds, which could mean upwards of $8 million in future cuts for Wichita Public Schools.
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