photo by: Nick Krug

Lawrence Public Schools district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.

Taxpayers could see nearly a 1-mill break next school year, according to Kathy Johnson, who presented the Lawrence school board an estimate of the district’s 2018-2019 mill levy on Monday.

The district’s executive director of finances provided that budget estimate along with an update of the state’s new K-12 school finance formula and its consequence to Lawrence public schools. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last month that the plan didn’t adequately fund K-12 education as the state constitution requires, but said that the shortfall could be addressed in the 2019 legislative session.

With the knowledge that the district would get about $4.75 million in new money from the state and with assessed valuation numbers, Johnson shared with the board an estimate that the district’s 2018-2019 mill levy would be 54.99 mills. That is a 0.96 mill reduction from the 2017-2018 district mill levy rate. At 54.99 mills, the district’s share of property taxes on a $175,000 home would be $1,060.

That break for taxpayers isn’t yet set in stone, however. Johnson said one portion of her estimate could change in the next week. She currently estimated that the district’s 2018-2019 bond-and-interest fund will require a 11.062 mill rate. She calculated a 0.627-mill increase to support the bond-and-interest fund to account for the planned sale this fall of $43.5 million in bonds from the $87 million bond referendum voters approved in May 2017 (the district sold the first $43.5 million of bonds from the referendum in September 2017). The 11.062 estimate was based on analysis of the bond market, but the figure might be tweaked before the board approved the budget for publication, Johnson said.

More than offsetting the estimated increase in bond-and-interest mill levy was a 1.657 decrease in mill levy support for the district’s local option budget, Johnson said. The mill levy for support of the local option budget has swung back and forth in recent years because of legislative manipulation, she said. The state allows local school boards to approve local option budgets to supplement state general fund dollars. The Lawrence district’s local option budget is 33 percent of the general revenue it receives from the state.

The 2018-2019 budget cuts by $1.4 million the $2.8 million spent in 2017-2018 from district reserve accounts, Johnson said. The district has been dipping into its reserves for the past four years in response to state funding cuts. As a consequence, the district contingency reserve has shrank from $6.47 million in 2014 to an estimated $2.4 million currently. The board needed to address the shrinking contingency reserve, which she estimated would be down to $1 million on July 1, 2019.

“It’s my responsibility to tell you when we are near a cliff,” Johnson said. “We’re getting there.”

Given the state of the contingency reserve and the need to fund any teacher salary increases that result from ongoing negotiations, the board agreed not to approve any additional new spending from a list of potential programs or staffing positions previously considered in April and May.

At the recommendation of Johnson, the board scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. July 30 to approve the 2018-2019 budget for publication. That action would set an Aug. 13 public hearing on the budget.

In other business, the board heard a presentation on the planning for the rollout in August of the student information software program, PowerSchool, from Terry McEwen, district director of assessment, research and accountability, and Kirsten Wondra, assistant director of learning and technology.

The board approved in September 2017 the $334,000 purchase of the PowerSchool platform. McEwen said 75 teachers have signed on for 17 days of training. They will help train the remainder of the staff starting Aug. 9 and 10 and throughout the school year. A “robust” communication plan was in the works to inform parents of the system, and a method was planned to answer parent questions online, he said.