Quinter asks for ideas about budget
By MIKE CORN
QUINTER -- By all indications, Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer and Rep. Don Hineman likely will be awash in correspondence from patrons of Quinter USD 293.
"Tell them to pay up," Dr. Michael Machen, a member of the school board, said of the message to be sent to legislators representing the Quinter area.
"They told us we were going to have this money. The whole state budgeted accordingly. We've all tightened our belt as much as we can."
Machen offered his thoughts in response to a question from one of the more than 200 people who turned out in the Ethel Jamison Auditorium on Tuesday evening to talk about the future of Quinter schools.
For the most part, the board said little, listening and frequently jotting down suggestions on how best to cope with the financial crisis that is affecting Quinter and virtually every other school district in the state.
Quinter Superintendent Tom Heiman gave a brief outline of the problems before letting patrons have their say.
And they had plenty to say.
Suggestion after suggestion was offered up, ranging from simply packing a lunch for students one day a week to the idea of consolidation, a move that didn't curry much favor by patrons or board members.
There apparently have been informal discussions about the possibility of merging with either Wheatland USD 292 at Grainfield or Grinnell USD 291 or both.
The reception hasn't been well-received, but applause from the Quinter patrons at Tuesday's meeting suggests any consolidation -- however undesirable it might be -- would be best with other Gove County schools.
A Quinter student told of how they already interact with students from Wheatland and Grainfield, and would prefer that consolidation to merging with WaKeeney, for example.
Heiman said he spoke briefly with WaKeeney's superintendent about the idea of consolidation while riding together to a meeting.
What Heiman thinks is absurd, however, is the idea of creating school districts with at least 1,600 students.
He said he did a quick count of combining Quinter with Grinnell, Wheatland, Trego, Hill City and Hoxie "and still didn't come up with 1,600 students."
Overall, the general fund for Quinter schools is down about $309,000 since the budget was adopted in 2008, and Heiman expects the situation to continue to worsen as the state's financial standing continues to erode away.
"We anticipate we're going to get more cuts before June 30," he told those attending.
Heiman said Quinter is boxed in by state regulations on raising money. Money from the state is falling, and the district already is only $6,000 away from its limit on how much can be raised through local taxes.
"We have no room to go higher on the revenue side," he said.
Quinter has a budget of about $3.2 million.
Already, salaries have been frozen and administrative staff has been cut. Heiman will become a part-time superintendent, dedicating about 60 percent of his time to the job. Other positions have been cut as well.
"We're getting down to the critical area of cutting," he said.
Heiman said he doesn't like the idea of cutting activities, contending there's a strong connection between activities and discipline.
Mahlon Tuttle, a Gove County commissioner, agreed.
"If you don't keep these kids busy, they will find something to do."
Those other activities, he said, might "shift to another form of government."
Overall, there was little sentiment for cutting activities -- athletics or academics.
But paying for them is the problem.
Already, the school board declined to pay $800 for transportation costs for the Quinter football team to meet in Topeka with Gov. Mark Parkinson. That cost apparently has been taken care of by sponsors.
The idea of sponsors, endowment associations or other fundraising activities were among the many suggestions offered.