Linda Robinson will be in at 1:30 Thursday for a chat about the upcoming school district discussion about a possible increase to the local option budget, and the prospects of sending a proposal to voters this spring.

commuter

I have heard that the baord is looking into using money from the 2005 bond issue to pay for sports facilities. Why doesn’t the board look into using that money for the junior high schools and the high schools? If the board is so convinced that USD needs more sports facilities and more up to date facilities, why doesn’t the board put together a sports only bond issue? Is the board afraid it will fail?

commuter

I often hear the board discuss budgets. Does the board go back and review budgets to actuals and request information on variances? If not, why not? If so, how come I haven’t heard any mention of this before?

macon47

Do you have any plan to monitor
Teacher absences, and make some
Adjustment to those who abuse the program?

macon47

I think about ¾ of our property taxes already go to USD 497.
Just how much more money do you want ?
all of it?
would that be enough?

lristh1230

What do you think of the school fees here in Lawrence. For example a student in elementary school the fees are over $100.00. What do you plan to do to lower these fees??

mamacita123

Hello Linda. How do you feel about diverting large amounts of possible usd 497 revenue to tax increment financing (TIF) projects? The public has very little knowledge of these kinds of tax subsidies and this is especially important when asking the citizens to consider an additional increase in their taxes. Should there be policies in place that perform cost/benefit analyses of potential projects to help ensure the benefit to the community will be greater than the overall loss of revenue? Thanks for your time.

hawkperchedatriverfront

Mrs. Robinson, could you explain why after all the money spent at Central Junior High the original wooden basement doors on the south side have still not been painted? Most custodians would have pride in their building and get a gallon of paint and do the job? Also, the old fencing agains the building is unsightly not to mention the bent and trashy looking chain link fence. In my opinion, your director of facilites does not have a handle on maintenance and money is not an excuse given the millions of dollars the votes passed for a bond issue. And please do not tell me you need to look into it. Just look at it and ask yourself, why?

ksbeast

What’s the status of plans to improve outdoor athletic fields? Will we be playing football at Haskell this fall?

lristh1230

As you know the school fees are really high. For example an elementary student fees just for attending school are over $100.00. What does the board plan on doing to reduce or eliminate the fees?

Rodric

This question concerns the redistricting of the junior highs. I live near an area that is in the Deerfield school district and relatively close to West Junior High. However, I have read that there is a suggestion that this area be redistricted to Central Junior High which is quite a long ways away. I understand the objective of trying to balance lower and higher income families in each school. However, it is very hard on the children to attend a certain elementary school and then be split apart from these kids when going to junior high. Wouldn’t it be best to keep all the kids in a certain elementary school together in junior high? I have never understood why a certain child could go to elementary school, junior high, and high school each with a different set of kids.

Moderator

Good afternoon. I’m 6News education reporter Lindsey Slater and I’ll be moderating this chat with School Board President Linda Robinson. We’ll be discussing the upcoming school board discussion about a possible increase to the local option budget. Thanks for being here, Linda.

Linda Robinson

My pleasure.

Moderator

To start, can you explain what the local option budget is?

Linda Robinson

The local option budget is a local funding option enabling our community to maintain high-quality public education in the Lawrence public schools. The State appropriates a General fund to the district, and the local option fund is percentage of that funding. Currently, USD 497 is at 30% of the General Fund.

Moderator

What will you be discussing on Monday at the school board meeting about the local option budget?

Linda Robinson

I think I need to provide some background information in order to answer that question. As a result of the State’s school finance law suit of a few years ago, the State legislature rasied the amount of LOB that school district’s could raise. However, the legislature placed a cap on the LOB at 30%; in order to go beyond that percentage, the districts must have an election. USD 497 is currently at 30%, therefore, it is necessary to have an election in order to raise the LOB. Two of our neighboring districts have already successfully passed their elections.

So, the Board will be discussing whether or not to raise the LOB to 31%.

Moderator

If the Board does decide to raise the LOB to 31%, what happens next?

Linda Robinson

On Monday night, the Board would need to adopt a resolution granting continuous and permanent authority to increase the local opton budget from 30% to 31% for the 2008-2009 school year. We would then need to determine a date for the election. Since there are no scheduled elections in Douglas county until August 1, we would be looking at an April 1 election in order for the funding to have an impact on the 2008 -2009 budget.

ksbeast

What would the school board do with the extra money if it asked the public to vote for an increase in the Local Option Budget?

Linda Robinson

The mission of the Lawrence Public Schools is “learning for all, whatever it takes”. All of our resources are focused on student learning. The new money would be used for the purpose of student instruction.

The exact language for the resolution would be determined at the Monday night Board meeting.

Moderator

How much money would the LOB raise cost taxpayers and how much money would the district get from the 1% increase?

Linda Robinson

Based on projections using this year’s student enrollment information, an increase of 1% in the LOB would raise $678,364.

For the owner of a home valued at $200,000, a 1% increase in the LOB is estimated to cost $1.15 per month (figures based on the 2007 -2008 school year).

Moderator

Are there any other options for the district to raise money?

Linda Robinson

That’s a really good question. Other than the LOB (property tax), there is no other way that the public schools can raise the additional money that is needed to address state and federal mandates, including the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) act. Public schools cannot, for instance, charge tuition or raise sales or income taxes. Those options are open to other governing bodies. Public Schools budgets are determined by the State legislature, based on a formula that includes student enrollment and other mitigating factors. The state legislature has ruled that local school districts must use the LOB to offset the rising cost of public education.

Moderator

That’s all the time we have for our chat today. Thanks to Linda Robinson for coming in and talking with us.

Linda Robinson

Thank you for having me.