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One in 10 students enrolled in the Lawrence school district attend the district’s online school, meaning that the Kansas Legislature’s recent reduction in state aid for virtual schools amounts to a significant loss in funds for the district.

Of the $2.8 million that was cut statewide from virtual schools’ budgets at a special Legislative session in June, more than $440,000 was pulled from funding that the Lawrence district expected to receive and could have used toward its general budget expenses.

“It would have just been built into the budget picture to help make things work until there’s new funding, hopefully, down the road,” said Kathy Johnson, the district’s director of finance.

Unlike funding for regular students, aid for virtual students is calculated on a per-pupil basis. Prior to the changes made in the special session, the amount of money districts receive per full-time virtual student was expected to increase by $600. As a result of that rate increase as well as an increase of about 40 virtual students, Lawrence expected to receive $440,225 in new money for next school year.

“That didn’t occur,” Johnson said. “With the special session, they decided to stay at the 2016 funding level.”

As the district prepares to release its budget proposal for the upcoming school year on Monday, those additional funds could have made a difference. Similar to last school year’s budget, the district’s budget plan for the upcoming school year will likely include deficit spending as well as some reductions in staffing.

“So it’s possible through the budget planning that maybe some of the cuts could have been different had we realized those dollars, and/or just applied to the deficit spending,” Johnson said.

The Lawrence Virtual School is one of only 13 district-affiliated K-12 virtual schools in Kansas, and serves more than 1,200 students. LVS is open to all students who reside in Kansas, and about 85-90 percent of those enrolled do not live in Lawrence, according to the LVS principal Keith Wilson.

Johnson said the flat funding for the virtual school should not have direct effects on those students for the upcoming school year.

“Virtual school students’ program will be covered in the same fashion it was covered this year,” she said.

The budget proposal will be made at the board’s meeting on July 25 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.