photo by: Journal-World

Lawrence Public Schools district offices pictured in April 2021.

Lawrence school board leaders will soon get an update on the work of the committee tasked with coming up with budget recommendations and potential school closures for the school district.

RSP & Associates, the consultant the district hired to facilitate the process, will provide the update to the board as part of a special meeting on Monday. RSP consultants will then ask whether the board has questions, considerations or comments for the committee, according to presentation materials.

In August, the school board hired RSP to use five-year enrollment projections, development and housing analysis, school boundaries and other data to help plan how the district uses its school buildings. The district’s $120,000 contract with RSP includes an enrollment analysis and a facility master plan process for the district. RSP will guide the committee in using enrollment, facility information and other data to create the facility master plan and budget recommendations for the school board.

The Futures Planning Committee began meeting in September, and so far has received and given its input on the district’s budget priorities and set its own financial goals for the process. At its most recent meeting, RSP provided the committee with aggregated cost estimates — totaling about $30 million — for improvements to the district’s elementary and middle schools that will be used to inform recommendations about the use of the district’s buildings.

The district initially proposed closing multiple schools for the 2022-2023 school year to help address a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall driven by enrollment declines and the board’s desire to set aside funding for staff raises and cash reserves. While the board took school closures off the table for this school year, it was expected closures could again be a consideration for the 2023-2024 school year.

The Lawrence school board will meet at 6 p.m. at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.