We’re sharing this story to highlight the unique situations of different districts in Kansas. When people talk about hiring “administrative” staff, or districts wanting more funding than in years past, or cash balances, there are specifics we might not know about unless we’re personally familiar with the district. We’ve repeatedly found that higher funding needs and cash balances are explained by unusual student populations, districts serving as centers for the provision of certain services, or districts saving for future expenditures rather than borrowing.
“Wichita, the state’s largest district, pointed to a growing number of refugee students as the reason it needs the additional resources.
“’Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministries and the International Rescue Committee in Wichita have each received allocations and are actively relocating refugees to Wichita,’ wrote Jim Freeman, the district’s chief financial officer, in the application the district submitted Monday.
“’As a result the district is seeing a dramatic increase in the number of school-aged students who are refugees from Burma, Somalia and the Congo region of Africa. Some have lived in refugee camps for decades; all are fleeing persecution, oppression and war.’
“The district had 132 refugees enrolled during last school year, and 95 percent did not speak English when they arrived. The district expects an additional 145 to 150 refugee students to enroll this year; it expects the total number of refugees to be about 220.
“Freeman wrote that these students come with a host of unusual needs.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/local/education/article31344761.html