January Message from the USD 224 Superintendent: Planning for the Future
by Brian Pekarek
At the end of December, the school districts in Kansas received some good news in regards to school funding and budget cuts. After a year and a half of budget cuts in education, Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson announced that he would not cut education funding anymore in order to balance the state budget this year. Although the news came from the governor, it was confirmed by the School Finance Department of the Kansas Department of Education as well. My January Superintendent Message will focus on why this happened, and what this means to USD 224 Clifton-Clyde Schools.
The Governor’s Message to Schools: Although the governor’s message seems to be centrally focused on helping Kansas Schools, there is another issue involved in this decision as well. According to the finance department of the Kansas Department of Education, the state legislature and the governor could not cut the funding of education any more this year (or next year) or they would lose the Federal Economic ARRA Stimulus Money. (The state is currently using the ARRA Money to “backfill” cuts in education funding at the present time.) Since the legislature had already cut the budget $418 off of the Base State Aide per Pupil since FY 2008-2009, the federal government would not allow the Kansas Government to cut the education portion of the state’s budget further and still use the ARRA money for education.
A Bittersweet Message: The governor’s announcement that he will not cut funding anymore for Kansas schools is bittersweet for Kansas. It is good news in the fact that we will know that he will not cut funding (for a while) and we can start the process of planning and restructuring our budget around a certain stable figure again. The bitterness resides in the fact that the state funding for education has dropped so significantly, yet the state’s expectations of schools have risen to an all time high. Another aspect of this bitterness focuses on the fact that when the ARRA Federal Stimulus money is gone in July of 2011, the state may be looking at a budget shortfall of $850 Million in revenues. Without the economic stimulus money to support education, we may see another large cut in our educational funding during FY 2011-2012.
From this knowledge, what is Clifton-Clyde USD 224 to do? Answer: We are proactively planning for the future knowing that the state will probably have a significant cut in educational funding by July 2011. This gives us 1 ½ years to plan, organize, and save for this probable cut far ahead of time. This may also give us an opportunity to update current district facilities in order to make them more energy efficient, and thus save money from our General Fund for the long run.
In conclusion: The good news from the governor couldn’t have come at a better time. This gives our school district and school board time to plan for the future so that Clifton-Clyde can continue to provide academic excellence for many years to come. As always, it is an honor to serve the USD 224 Clifton-Clyde Communities as their superintendent of schools. Contact me if you have any questions regarding the state budget cuts and our proactive plans for the future.
Sincerely,
Mr. Brian Pekarek
USD 224 Clifton-Clyde Superintendent
785-455-3313
bpekarek@usd224.com
