“Incoming USD 457 Superintendent Steve Karlin said next year Garden City Public Schools will cut the equivalent of 5.5 administrative positions including 4 full-time associate principal positions and 1.5 positions at the district’s central office.
“Cuts to specific programs within the district eliminated 8.4 teaching positions including 4 full-time elementary positions, 3 middle-level positions, 1 high school position and a part-time nursing position…
“’If we must maintain flat funding to keep doing what we do, we have to cut programs because our allocation from the state isn’t being increased because of inflation,’ Karlin said.
“Sen. Larry Powell, R-Garden City, said under the House budget the schools are safe from cuts because the legislature already passed the block grant funding formula in March.
“Karlin said under the block grant system, less money will go to at-risk students like those in low-income families, those learning English as a second language, those that need transportation to attend classes and those in special education than they received under the old formula.
“’I don’t think it will affect the schools at all,’ Powell said.
“USD 363 Superintendent Jean Rush says with the state budget in the hole, some of Holcomb Public Schools’ programs for children are in danger.
“USD 466 Syracuse Superintendent Jamie Rumford said the growing Syracuse public schools system is considering cutting five percent across the board…
“’I think that they’ve blown up a perfectly good school system for no good reason,’ Rumford said. ‘It’s gonna take years for Kansas to recover from this, if we ever do.'”
Read more here: http://www.gctelegram.com/news/local/schools-anxious-about-state-budget-woes/article_6aabb57c-5b8b-500f-a135-be20dc2fa799.html