By KALEY CONNER

kconner@dailynews.net

Another round of state funding cuts announced by Gov. Mark Parkinson on Monday could send local schools back to the drawing board to balance this year's budget.

This proposal could cut Hays USD 489's budget by an additional $264,000 this year, while Fort Hays State University would lose an additional $100,000.

Parkinson announced an additional $259 million in cuts and suggested education be funded at 2006 levels. Action from the state Legislature will be needed to implement Parkinson's proposal.

"We are in difficult economic times, and we need to educate our way to a better economy," FHSU President Edward H. Hammond stated in a press release. "We are in a brain race, and we cannot leave any Kansan behind. We have to close the opportunity gap if our state is going to recover, grow and prosper."

Hammond will convene an open forum at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss how the university will deal with the latest news.

The university is continuing efforts to cope with a loss of $784,000 since July 1. Since Christmas, the state has reduced FHSU's funding by $4.5 million, or 13 percent. As a result, the university eliminated 30 staff positions and some classes. Larger class sizes also have become necessary, according to the press release.

Meanwhile, USD 489 administrators are looking at how the latest proposals could affect the school district, said Richard Cain, assistant superintendent of finance.

Had the district not enrolled an additional 60 students this year, its state budget cuts would have totaled $765,000. The boost in enrollment helped reduce the amount of loss to $264,000 this year, Cain said.

The district has received funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which are being used to offset the budget reduction.

USD 489 was slated to receive about $2 million through two years, according to www.recovery.gov. But rather than receive half of those funds each year, the additional cuts mean 75 percent of that award will be needed this year, Cain said.

"I think one of our biggest concerns is how the governor has done this," Cain said. "He's using the federal stimulus money to offset a huge amount of that, and boy, that's going to make the fiscal year 2011 budget that much worse."

The district has implemented energy savings strategies and is holding some vacant positions to reduce staff costs, he said. Administrators and the board of education will continue to analyze the situation, Cain said.

"There will have to be a discussion there now to decide what to do," he said.