Baldwin City school board to publish budget with no tax increase

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The Baldwin City school board approved for publication Monday a proposed 2017-2018 budget that increases classroom funding while holding the mill levy steady at 63.669 mills.

The $22.3 million budget is the first for the district under the new school finance formula the Kansas Legislature adopted last spring. The new formula provided about $586,000 more for the district to spend on classroom education, Superintendent Paul Dorathy said. That was primarily done by removing the requirement to make teachers’ payments to the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System from the $8.92 million general fund, he said.

The proposed spending plan sets the district’s local option budget at the maximum 30 percent of general fund dollars allowed by state statute. The state allows local school boards to use LOBs to supplement the state money they receive for their general fund. The LOB will provide the district another $2.9 million in funding. The district’s capital outlay fund was also set at the statutory 8-mill maximum.

At 63.669 mills, the district’s share of taxes on a $175,000 single-family home would be about $1,235.

Board President Nick Harris said he was pleased to keep the district mill levy steady, adding that the board hadn’t raised the mill levy in five years.  

The new school funding formula played a big role in shaping the proposed budget, but also made it tentative. The Kansas Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the new formula after hearing arguments in July about whether it funded K-12 education adequately as constitutionally required.

The Kansas Department of Education instructed districts to move ahead with budgets for the next year despite that uncertainty, Dorathy said. Any changes resulting from a court ruling would likely provide the district more money, he said.

The board will have a public hearing on the proposed budget at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21. It will consider adopting the budget at the conclusion of public comment. At that time, the board can decrease expenditures listed in the budget but can’t increase them.