Kaufman: 'I don't know where we'll get it from'
By RYAN CHRISTNER
If history is doomed to repeat itself, the latest round of state budget cuts announced Thursday by Gov. Mark Parkinson wasn't likely to have caught anyone off guard.
Nevertheless, the 2-percent cut to public education -- and many other agencies and programs, including higher education -- still is tough to swallow.
"I don't know where we will get it from," Hays USD 489 Superintendent Fred Kaufman said Thursday about the $222,000 it will not be seeing due to the cut.
In response to yet more months of lower-than-expected tax revenue collections, which left the state $160 million short of a positive balance, Parkinson again was forced to trim from an already heavily scaled down budget.
About $90 million was generated through cuts, while the remainder came through reductions in Department of Transportation maintenance and operations, use of federal money and various transfers of funds.
Those changes will leave the state with just more than $1 million at the end of the fiscal year.
If it is found additional revenue needs to be collected, Parkinson said a tax increase might be a possible solution.
Combined with previous reductions, the cut puts the Hays district nearly $800,000 below where it originally thought it would be. Adding in an approximately $300,000 increase in health insurance premiums administrators have vowed to fund, USD 489 will need to make up more than $1 million this fiscal year.
"It puts us in a real bad spot," Assistant Superintendent of Finance Richard Cain said of the cut. "The sad thing is that probably is not the last one."
Without mentioning specifics, Cain said administrators would have recommendations for school board members when they meet Monday. A budget update, with suggestions for possible reductions to cover previous losses, already was scheduled to be discussed.
He did say some previously suggested ideas, such as reducing to half-day kindergarten and initiating fees for sports, "may get accelerated."
"Again, because we don't have any other options," he said.
Kaufman also indicated the district still has one staff vacancy it could leave open, thereby reducing the amount it pays in salaries.
"We'll have to look at some other things," he said.
The school board already has approved measures that would save nearly $400,000 of their loss. That amount has come through eliminating summer school, not filling six certified staff positions and not renewing membership with the Smoky Hill Education Service Center.
An administrator within the district for 12 years, Cain said this is "by far the worst" budget he has seen.
"It's getting very serious," he said. "It's really going to damage the school district, I'm afraid."