Peabody-Burns USD cuts six positions
After waiting on the Kansas legislature to make a final decision on school funding for the 2002-2003 school year, the administration and school board of USD 398 finally have a grasp of the repercussions of the legislative wrangling.
"It hasn't been easy to plan for the coming year," said Tom Alstrom, superintendent of schools.
Alstrom said that six positions had been cut from the district as a direct result of the financial situation in which the Peabody-Burns district finds itself.
Of the six positions cut, two were classified personnel and four were teachers. "We cut three teaching positions and we chose not to fill a teaching position vacated because of retirement," Alstrom said.
The state legislature voted to increase state aid by $20 per pupil for the coming year. "The problem," said Alstrom, "is that they aren't sure they can fund the plan. So we hope we will get $20 per student, but they can always tell us they don't have any way to fund the increase."
Alstrom said that the Peabody-Burns district will do some belt-tightening and look for ways to cut costs, but that there are no plans to cut programs.
"We are looking at maintaining and funding all the programs we currently have," he said. "The class of 2002 was a large one, and we have projected that we will have 15 to 20 students fewer than we did last year. But our budget is based on last year's enrollment so that will give us some breathing room on spending."
The district will not increase the local option budget, Alstrom said. "The increase in taxes will come from the state, so local taxes won't be increased."
Alstrom also said things are not as bleak as they seemed when the legislature was warning districts last winter that there was little or no funding for education.
"Yes, it has been frustrating to try and plan for next year, but we aren't unique in that. It has been hard on everyone. The state waits so long to tackle school funding and in the mean time we have to negotiate with our teachers and try to plan a budget to educate our children without knowing how much money we will have," he said.
For the time being, the Peabody-Burns district is not looking at cutting programs or services to students. Alstrom noted that it doesn't seem likely things will turn around before the 2003-2004 school year.
"We will have to face this again, not knowing what the funding will be. We'll just take it one year at a time and do the best we can," he said.
