This is not acceptable. Kansas, are you fed up yet?
“The [Olathe school] board, three of whom were just elected, got the news that the district has a $2 million deficit and up to 80 layoffs may be needed to close the gap…The district is proposing to leave a handful of open administrative unfilled, but the bulk of the savings will come from layoffs and program cuts.
“The plan calls for the elimination of middle school library aids, paraprofessionals hours will be cut, some custodians will be laid off and the district will end its Spanish program for elementary students. In addition, the district plans to end its teacher mentoring program.
“The district blames the new block grant funding formula passed by the Kansas Legislature which freezes district budgets for the next two years. ‘If your revenue is frozen and your costs are going up then you have to find a way to account for that, and that means cuts,’ Berry says.
“‘The block grants are very scary,’ says Rick Schier who presided over his first meeting as Board president Thursday night. ‘The rest of the world, nobody else is holding everything flat. Everything else continues to increase.’
“The district says it will have an additional 400 students when school starts next month. Under the old school funding formula the district would have received more aid from the state for those students.”
Read more here: http://kcur.org/post/olathe-public-schools-facing-2-million-deficit-plans-layoffs