photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Lawrence school board members met on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.

Lawrence school board members approved a slight increase in the property tax rate for the 2025-2026 school year, a move members say is necessary to support staff and cover inflation-lagging state aid.

On Monday, school board members approved a budget for the 2025-2026 school year with a mill levy – or property tax rate – at 52.333 mills. One mill is equal to one dollar of property taxes for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. The mill levy is also the maximum mill levy board members approved in August, as the Journal-World reported.

The mill levy is a 0.06 mill increase over the 2024-2025 rate of 52.273 mills. For a homeowner with a $300,000 property, that would increase their property taxes by $2.

“I don’t see that there is a choice because we do need to take care of our staff as best we can today,” Board member Bob Byers said. “We do need to ensure that we provide an adequate education to the youth that we’re responsible for. With that in mind, I will be supporting the budget.”

Board member Shannon Kimball was also in support of the budget. She said the budget funds the continuing contracts with staff and it will support the agreement when it is reached with the education support professionals. Kimball said as a district, it is important to maximize the resources available in the district to meet the needs in certain areas.

Kimball said the district’s Base State Aid is below the rate of inflation, meaning instructional funding is significantly behind where it should be. She also said that special education has been underfunded for 15 years, requiring the district to cover a $14 million gap using general funds and local property taxes.

As the Journal-World reported, the district is seeing an increase in its Base Aid for Student Excellence state funding, which is allocated to support each individual student. For the 2025-2026 school year, the district will receive $5,615 per student, up from $5,378 in the previous year. However, this increase doesn’t necessarily translate into more overall funding for the district.

Cynde Frick, the district’s executive director of finance, previously said Local Option Budget state aid is decreasing due to a rise in assessed property valuation per student. This figure is calculated by dividing the district’s total assessed property value by the number of full-time equivalent students. As a result, while the district received $2.8 million in LOB aid for the 2024-2025 school year, it’s projected to receive only about $729,000 in 2025-2026.

In other business, school board members:

• Allowed the district to participate in the Kansas State High School Activities Association esports league and give each middle school and high school the opportunity to establish their own esports team.

According to the memo in the agenda, to get esports started up this year, the district estimates they will spend between $7,994 to $10,394 on new Nintendo Switch consoles, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, team uniforms, the KSHSAA annual fee and the Nintendo Online + Expansion. The range exists because teams may utilize existing monitors in the district. The district plans to spend around $314 for the second year of operation and $314 for the third year to cover the KSHSAA annual fee and the Nintendo Online + Expansion.

• Approved the school district’s participation in a 95% Neighborhood Revitalization Act property tax abatement over 15 years based on the valuation increase resulting from the 9 Del Lofts II apartment project. The 9 Del Lofts II apartment project plans to build on a vacant lot at East Ninth and Delaware streets in Lawrence.

Board members Yolanda Franklin and Carole Cadue-Blackwood voted against the participation in the project because they had questions about whether or not the housing would actually be affordable and get people in the community housed.

The developers have asked the City of Lawrence, Douglas County and the Lawrence school district to approve the property tax rebate on the property, and the city and county have already approved their involvement in the plan.

• Approved the purchase of Dell desktop towers and laptops in an amount not to exceed $235,000, including an amount for additional equipment, if necessary, according to the agenda. The district’s computer classroom labs need updated devices since most of the existing equipment was purchased in 2019 and is nearing end of life.

• Held two executive sessions, each for the “purpose of discussing personnel matters pursuant to the non-elected personnel.” The first session had action to follow, but it was not discussed during the meeting. The second session had no action to follow. Board member Shannon Kimball did not participate in either of the sessions because she was participating in the meeting virtually.