Hays USD 489 stays a member of fair funding group
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
The Board of Education for Hays USD 489 will continue to keep a close eye on ways to deal with the decreasing state budget.
One of those, they decided at Monday's regular meeting, is to remain a member of the Schools for Fair Funding lobbying group.
Board member Greg Schwartz moved to rescind the Hays district's membership in SFFF, a lobbying group of 57 school districts throughout the state threatening too sue the state to increase school funding.
District fees to belong to SFFF is $2 per enrolled student based on the full-time equivalent count. That number for Hays this year is 3,715.5; therefore, USD 489's portion of that for this year would be $7,431.
However, that could increase by more than twice that amount if SFFF votes to proceed with a new lawsuit.
Schwartz said he thinks it is "risky to pursue the lawsuit" and that "I think we can spend those dollars a lot more effectively here."
Rich Kraemer said he thinks Hays would "potentially benefit much more" this time than the last lawsuit of SFFF.
Alan Moore said sometimes "we're forced to use the judicial system to rule" on matters.
All board members present voiced their opinion on the matter before the vote, which was defeated 3-2.
Schwartz and Darren Schumacher voted to rescind the membership, while Kraemer, Moore and Karie Younger voted to stay in.
Moore, the board's vice president, was sitting in for President Sharon Befort, who was out of town and could not make the meeting.
Judy Nixon also was not present and sent a written note saying she would be on medical leave until at least the Feb. 1 meeting.
Monday's meeting was the last one of 2009. Next semester's first meeting is set for Jan. 18, with two scheduled in February -- on the 1st and the 15th.
One of the items of new business, review of Section I of the Board of Education, was tabled until a later meeting at the request of Befort and Nixon.
One item all members agreed on unanimously was the change in the district's dual sport participation policy.
The policy formerly read that "primarily due to the immense commitment of time away from school, students may participate in only one athletic sport per season."
At the last board meeting, in November, Hays High School senior Amanda Groff had petitioned the board to participate in both softball and swimming next spring.
Groff is an honor student with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while participating in a variety of school activities.
After consultation with administrators, coaches and teachers, HHS Principal Mike Hester brought to the board certain stipulations that must be met if students are allowed to participate in more than sport in any one season.
Those included the student having maintained at least a 3.0 GPA the previous semester and be in good standing with the school.
A "dual participation contract" must be on file at the school before the first day of the season.
One of the conditions in the contract has the student choosing a primary activity in case of conflicting schedules.
The board voted 5-0 of accepting the first reading of the policy change.
In other action Monday:
* The board voted unanimously to accept a bid from Icon Office Solutions in Wichita for a long-run copier.
The copier will cost $975 a month on a 60-month lease, about half of what the current copier from Xerox Corp. of Canada costs per month ($1,854).
* Approved the following personnel transactions:
Resignations -- Jason Carter, custodian, Felten Middle, effective Nov. 30; Rick Riffel, para educator, Felten Middle, Nov. 24.
Retirement -- Penni Motes, payroll secretary, USD 489, April 1.
Employment -- Karen Funk, para educator, Felten Middle.
* Approved the payment of bills in the amount of $2.77 million.
In other discussions, Richard Cain gave an enrollment report for the 2009-10 school year.
Cain, assistant superintendent of finance, explained that because of an enrollment increase of 84 students from a year ago, the district was able to cover $500,000 of the $764,000 budget deficit with that.
The district headcount was up from 2,953 students in 2008-09 to 3,037 this year.
Mark Hauptman, assistant superintendent of special services, gave a written report.
Todd Bryant, technology operations coordinator for the district, gave a report on a request for proposal for Internet services, of which he has received only one bid, from Eagle Communications, so far.
Bryant is preparing his final proposal in preparation for presentation at the next meeting.