At the end of the last legislative session, state lawmakers mandated that all public schools in Kansas hire an independent contractor to ensure school tornado shelters meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s tornado safety standards.

As recently as this week, Lawrence school district administrators were scrambling to find the $16,000 to hire an inspector.

But they needn’t have worried so much, because in July the Legislature amended the mandate, replacing it with a simple question for school administrators to answer: Are schools in your district up to standard?

The $16,000 question in Lawrence?

“I think that our schools are certainly up to standard,” said Rick Gammill, the district’s director of special operations. “We review the refuge sites annually, and we certainly work within our parameters to do the best we can.”

Gammill said the district works closely with Douglas County’s emergency management department to ensure students’ safety.

Brad Neuenswander, director of school finance for the board of education, said Statehouse priorities shifted after legislators realized the financial burden being placed on schools.

“All the legislators want to know now is to get a good idea of how big an issue it is,” he said.

Neuenswander said school districts have the choice to retain an independent inspector. Gammill said the Lawrence district is mulling the idea of hiring an outside source, though the cheaper alternative is to do the work with the district’s own team.

“If we were going to go with a consultant, I’m not really sure where the money would come from,” he said. “It’s $16,000 that we’ll probably try to do in-house with our own staff in order to save money.”

School districts must comply with a lengthy checklist of standards mapped out by FEMA, which Gammill said could take several weeks to complete. Reports are due to Topeka in December.

Nancy DeGarmo, principal of New York School, said students at her school have many safe places to seek refuge during a twister, but she could not say whether the school is up to the latest standards.

“Once I’ve seen the standards, I would certainly want to go through the school and make sure that where we’re placing students meets the standards,” she said.