By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

Members of the Hays USD 489 Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to formally announce their willingness to support litigation against the state due to a steady stream of funding cuts that has left school finance -- in their opinion -- inadequate.

As the governor and state legislators struggled to balance a 2010 budget fraught with deficits, Kansas school districts saw their funding reduced by $215 per student -- a decrease of $771,000 for Hays.

Now, talk is swirling of more cuts later this year and even steeper cutbacks in fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

"We were informed last week by the state Department of Education ... that we can look forward to another $135-per-student cut in November," Superintendent Fred Kaufman said at the meeting. "That's just in November. Most people would speculate that when the Legislature goes back in session, they will cut us again this fiscal year. I'm not sure where all that ends."

That alone would constitute about $560,000 in Hays.

The school board's litigation pledge came as a result of Kaufman's recommendation for support of a resolution crafted by Schools for Fair Funding, the nonprofit coalition of public school districts that initiated a lawsuit against the state in 1999 to increase school compensation.

Materials accompanying the resolution outline four possible future opportunities for state school funding to be reduced more.

The first is a product of news released late last month by Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis, who said higher-than-expected student enrollment, lower-than-expected property valuations and a rise in "at-risk" students has resulted in a $70 million hole that will need to be filled.

The three remaining scenarios were based off projections of shortfalls in the state's revenue collections.

If schools are billed for half of those estimated deficits -- public education expenses account for about half of the state's budget -- that would mean additional cuts of approximately $48 million this year, $265 million next year and nearly $428 million in 2012.

For Hays USD 489, the total obligation would be more than $5 million.

"Public education as it has existed for years will be dramatically changed if those numbers actually come about," said Kaufman, who also serves as SFFF president.

More than 30 school districts are members of Schools for Fair Funding, representing an estimated one-quarter of the state's student population. And that doesn't include the long list of districts that have expressed interest in joining or gaining additional information about the organization.

"It might go as far as one-half before we get done," Kaufman said. "They have a lot of people that are interested."

The last time schools took legal action, when the group filed the now-famous Montoy v. State case, Kaufman said the hope was to have support from districts representing 50,000 students.

Membership now is "way beyond that," he said, well above the 100,000-student mark.

Kaufman and board member Greg Schwartz acknowledged area legislators for their support on the issue, despite the majority of their peers being aligned otherwise.

"The last time the Legislature, as a whole, did the right thing was when they were forced to by legislation," said Schwartz, who also suggested the board make contingency plans now for future cuts, perhaps devoting their time at Monday's special work session on board policy review to instead reviewing their budget for areas that can be trimmed.

The only positive aspect of the situation, Kaufman said, is an increase in district enrollment -- some 65 or 66 students by physical head count -- could cancel out some of the money that could be lost through funding reductions.

The financial effect of the additional students is unknown, but "if there were reasonable budget cuts, we could deal with it with our enrollment increase," Kaufman said.

Continuing the trend of disappointing financial news, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Richard Cain told the board of signs that state aid payments for November could be delayed.

"This is becoming a very concerning issue," Cain said. "We think we have enough to make payroll, but we wouldn't be able to pay any bills."

During the first half of the fiscal year, from July through January, the district operates solely on money generated through state aid. After January, Cain said, local tax money becomes available as a supplement.

In other business:

* Students at Washington and Lincoln elementary schools have received H1N1 flu vaccinations, Kaufman said, with a participation of about 50 percent to 60 percent of students at each school.

Wilson Elementary is the next school in line for the vaccines. Consent forms for high school and junior high students recently were sent out to parents.

"The county health people have just been excellent," Kaufman said.

* The high absenteeism rates seen a few weeks ago are all but back to normal, Kaufman announced. He said the exact reason for the fluctuation still is not entirely known.

* Rich Kraemer, a member of the pay-to-participate committee that was established Sept. 15, informed other board members the group will meet Wednesday at the Rockwell Administration Center and again later this month.

He said he hopes to give a report to the board by Dec. 7.