Some of the 66 teachers laid off earlier this year by the Lawrence school district are now getting good news.

A total of 31 of them are being rehired, the board announced during its Monday night meeting. An additional 14 new certified teachers are being hired.

“There’s probably going to be more,” board member Sue Morgan said.

Some of the teachers are replacing teachers who retired or left the district.

The teachers were given pink slips in May letting them know they would not be needed for the 2003-2004 school year because the state budget had not been finalized, creating uncertainty about the school district’s budget.

Those questions have since been answered and the district is studying a budget proposal for 2003-2004 that is expected to allow for a decrease of between 1.8 mills and 3 mills. A mill is $1 in tax for each $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Supt. Randy Weseman noted that recent court decisions concerning the Blue Valley school district’s move to raise revenue through a sales tax indicated new ways of funding school districts were ahead.

Despite court challenges to the Blue Valley sales tax levy from Wyandotte County school districts, judges have sided with Blue Valley.

Although there could be additional appeals and challenges, Weseman said he thought the court decisions would probably stand.

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“It looks like the tax is going to fly,” he said, adding that he didn’t necessarily think it was a good thing.

The court rulings will take some pressure off the Kansas Legislature to adequately finance public schools and require school districts to come up with alternative methods of raising money, Weseman said.

“It does have major implications across the rest of the state for those districts that don’t have the resources,” he said.