photo by: Journal-World

Lawrence school district headquarters at 110 McDonald Drive.

As changes at both the state and federal level unfold, Lawrence school board members on Monday will get briefed on the dollars and cents that may be at stake for the Lawrence school district.

On Monday, school board members will hear a presentation about the remaining funds for spring 2025. The Trump administration has frozen $99,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, which the school district planned to use for a bakery at Community Connections at Pinckney. The funds are on hold, but the district will continue the program using capital outlay funds, according to a presentation in the agenda.

In addition, the USDA also canceled the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, which provided $86,872.68 to the Lawrence school district to purchase local beef from three nearby ranchers between May 2023 and December 2024.

The federal government has provided Lawrence public schools funding for food service, special education, Native American Student Services, adult education, a variety of grants and more. But the school district receives a majority of its funding from the state, and the district expects impacts there as well.

State lawmakers currently are working on budgets, with the House and Senate each passing their own plans. The two bodies must still meet to work out differences in the two budget bills, at which point a final bill will be sent to Gov. Laura Kelly, who can approve or veto the bill. The Republican-controlled legislature, however, may have the needed votes to override any vetoes by Kelly, a Democrat.

The presentation in the agenda said that for the 2024-2025 school year, the school district “may be required to return the Safe & Secure Schools grant” in the amount of $144,644. “This money was spent to complete a Centegix crisis alert system in all schools and purchase (automated external defibrillators),” the presentation said. There were no additional details included in the presentation about why the district may have to return that funding.

There is also a possible loss of state aid funding for professional development, which last year amounted to nearly $45,000, according to the presentation. The state provides funding for professional development costs of all certified personnel in K-12 schools and provides stipends to classroom teachers who mentor new-to-the-profession teachers. Both of those types of funding could be at risk.

For next school year, the district does not anticipate an increase to special education funding from the state, which had been a top legislative priority for the school district. At one point in the legislative session, it appeared state funding for special education may increase by about $10 million statewide. The House included that increase in its budget, but the additional funding was removed in the Senate’s budget bill.

School board members also will be briefed on the district’s declining student enrollment, and how that may impact state funding, which generally pays districts on a per pupil basis. The district has seen its full-time enrollment fall from about 10,800 students in the 2018/2019 school year to about 9,700 students in the 2024/2025 school year.

In other business, school board members will:

* Consider entering into a lease purchase agreement with Apple Inc. in the amount of $2,415,788 with 0% interest for the purchase of 2,300 MacBook Air laptop computers. This is an update to the Feb. 24 agenda item to approve a lease for the computers. The new lease amount has decreased by about $200,000 from what was previously proposed.

* Consider authorizing additional purchasing authority of up to $400,000 to the school district to expedite vehicle acquisitions when opportunities arise. According to the agenda, there is an immediate demand for student transportation vans, staff vehicles, work trucks and delivery vehicles. “The district will use governmental pricing authority and will communicate with the board as purchasing occurs,” the agenda states.

* Consider approving a budget increase of $13,987 for Johnson Controls Inc. and P1 Group Inc. to complete the conversion of two HVAC building management systems, bringing the total project cost to $145,965.

* Consider proceeding with B.A. Green Construction Co., Inc. to perform building exterior maintenance and improvements at New York Elementary School and Billy Mills Middle School with a total estimated cost of $395,211.

* Consider approving the bid from Byrne & Jones Construction in the amount of $345,121 to perform asphalt and concrete maintenance & improvements at Cordley, Kennedy, Sunflower, and Sunset Hill Elementary Schools and Lawrence High School. The total project budget amounts to $417,721.

* Consider approving the exchange for 17 automated external defibrillators, backup batteries and pads for school district buildings. On Jan. 13, the school board purchased these devices at a total cost of $27,683, but after receiving them, the models “did not meet the standard of the current AEDs in use throughout the district.”

The district is seeking approval to exchange the devices along with the necessary backup batteries and pads, at an additional cost of $7,047, bringing the total purchase price to $34,910.

* Consider approving the annual boiler preventative maintenance service agreement – covering 52 boilers in the district – with P1 Service in the amount of $58,056.

* Hold an executive session to “discuss matters which would be privileged in the attorney-client relationship” with no action to follow.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. The meeting will also be available via the school district’s YouTube channel. Residents who want to share comments with the board may sign up in advance by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org by 6 p.m. Monday and may participate in person or via Webex video/phone conferencing.