School districts in Johnson County are waging a desperate fight to defeat a bill that would force them to cut millions of dollars from their budgets.
The measure had its first hearing Tuesday in the Kansas Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Educators from across the state lined up to oppose the bill, which would change the way the state distributes state aid around local option budgets.
Johnson County districts collectively could lose $11 million before the fiscal year ends in July. Shawnee Mission could lose $4.4 million, Blue Valley, $3.3 million and Olathe, $2.5 million.
Spring Hill, DeSoto and Gardner Edgerton each stand to lose under $1 million. And Kansas City, Kan., could lose about $1 million.
Superintendents, the state PTA and school administrators say cuts this late in the school year will result in cuts in classroom programs.
Mark Tallman of the Kansas School Board Association says any layoffs would hit the lowest-paid district workers.
“Bus drivers, cooks, paras don’t have contracts. So if you have to reduce administrative costs that’s where you tend to have to go,” he says.
Committee Chairman Sen. Ty Masterson, a Republican from Wichita, says these reductions are small and districts should be able to absorb them.
He also says the local option budget formula must be changed to more equitably distribute the money.
