I was very disappointed to hear of Governor Brownback’s comments on Tuesday which singled out Garden City Public Schools for requesting “extraordinary needs” funds from the State Finance Council in May. Governor Brownback asserts that a budget crisis exists in Garden City. Governor Brownback’s actions including a mid-year reduction of over $375,000 in state aid to Garden City during the 2014-15 school-year and the conversion of a 23 year-old school finance system to a block grant funding system which unfairly locks in funding at current levels and doesn’t account for changes in enrollment or student demographics are creating significant budget challenges for the district.
Governor Brownback’s assertion that Garden City Public Schools’ spending will increase this year by 9% is completely false. The district’s actual spending for the 2013-14 school year went down by two-tenths percent (-0.2%). The final data for actual spending for the 2014-15 year is not yet available, but will be at the end of June – spending is anticipated to increase by less than four percent (< 4%). It is very disheartening that Governor Brownback chooses to use misleading information in these very challenging times.
Garden City Public Schools provided an increase in compensation, including an increase in employer-paid health insurance premium contributions, for our employees this year. Overall, employees received a 2.96% increase in salary, including the addition of a stipend for teachers who have an English for Speakers of Other Languages endorsement. The base teacher salary was raised 1.28% (the prior year the base teacher salary rose 0.62%). The rate of inflation for both those years was 1.5% and 1.6% respectively. Since fiscal year 2011, during Governor Brownback’s time as governor, our base teacher salary has increased 7.87%, while inflation has increased by 10%. Kansas currently ranks 42nd out of 50 states in average teacher salary. Recruiting and retaining quality teachers in Southwest Kansas is a high priority in this school district and it is important to offer a competitive salary for staff members. It is also noteworthy that those increases have been made possible by reducing other areas of the district’s budget and by increasing the local option budget (putting a greater burden on local taxpayers).
Read more here: http://www.gckschools.com/news.cfm?id=2881