Lawrence USD 497 school board

Enrollment in the Lawrence school district didn’t grow quite as much as expected, and as a result the school district is eliminating approximately a dozen teaching and classroom positions as part of next year’s proposed budget.

None of the eliminated positions will require layoffs, but rather will be eliminated via attrition. But the slowdown that is leading to the cutbacks has created questions the district will monitor in the coming year.

In spring 2016, it was projected that the district’s overall student population would increase over the following five years, growing from about 10,500 to 11,200 students by 2020, according to a report by RSP & Associates. The anticipated enrollment increase didn’t quite pan out as expected, resulting in a bump of only 41 students as opposed to the 136 projected.

“Why that didn’t come through this year is hard to say,” school board president Shannon Kimball said Monday. “There are so many factors that could be at play there, but I think it remains to be seen whether that slowdown was an anomaly or whether it’s the beginning of a different trend.”

School board members addressed the budget issues at their Monday morning meeting. Despite uncertainty surrounding the state’s new school finance plan, the Lawrence school board moved ahead on a portion of the district’s tentative budget plan for the upcoming school year.

Under the Legislature’s new school finance plan, which awaits a decision from the Kansas Supreme Court later this summer regarding its constitutional adequacy, the Lawrence district would receive an estimated $74 million dollars in general fund money from the state. That number includes special education funds, and would represent an approximate $6.2 million bump from the 2016-2017 school year, according to estimates from the Kansas State Department of Education shared by the district.

The school board voted to approve several budget items on Monday that district officials said were necessary in planning for the upcoming school year in August. Those items included allocations toward staff hires, professional development and technology systems.

An outline of additions and reductions in the 2017-2018 budget plan includes the hiring of two elementary teachers and two secondary teachers on contingency. Reductions include roughly a dozen full-time equivalent positions, which district leaders have attributed to causes such as natural attrition, enrollment changes and teacher-to-student ratios. The reductions will save the district roughly $815,000. The cuts include reductions to elementary, middle school and high school teaching positions.

Anna Stubblefield, the district’s newly appointed interim superintendent, said the number of teachers leaving the district “balanced” with the number of teachers hired last year to accommodate the projected enrollment increase, which did not end up materializing. That outcome, she said, allowed the district to reduce positions without layoffs.

“Even when you adjust for the lack of growth, we still had openings,” Stubblefield said.

District leaders don’t expect class sizes to increase in the upcoming school year. In fact, the hiring of contingency teachers, Kimball said, will address what are referred to as “hot spots” within the district — i.e., a specific class at a particular building that might be “bursting at the seams” compared to more manageable class sizes elsewhere at that same school.

Other budget items approved Monday include an additional $400,000 to fund an increase in rates and usage of internet services and utilities. Although specific numbers weren’t immediately available Monday, Kimball said the extra funds could be attributed to rising Westar Energy costs and the recent addition of the district’s Lawrence College and Career Center.

School board members Monday also voted to approve the allocation of $248,000 toward the implementation of recommendations following a classified market study.

District leaders issued several recommendations last fall meant to address study findings that a portion of the district’s classified staff — i.e., noncertified employees such as custodians, food-service workers, secretaries and other support staff — are being paid below market value. In general, the study found that the majority of the district’s classified families will need a starting salary adjustment in order to come closer to market level.

Information about which positions might receive raises as part of the $248,000 allocation was not available Monday.