Wichita BOE preps for public hearing, budget approval
The Wichita Public Schools Board of Education will hear public comments on its proposed budget at its Monday meeting, with the intent to approve the final version the same night.
If approved by the school board, it would set the maximum amount of money available to the district for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
"I do want to remind folks that the resolution requires us publishing the maximum limits of the budget," said Superintendent John Allison. "That doesn't necessarily mean that those are the dollars that will be spent. You have to give us the authority during the school year to be able to spend those funds."
The district is proposing a more than $628 million budget for the upcoming year. About 60 percent of the budget is in restricted funds.
Board President Lynn Rogers said the board would still have the option to take critiques and concerns from the public and make changes to the budget throughout the year, even after approval.
"We can always come back down and change it," Rogers said. "At any time during the year, we can change it and go down from what we spent. So if we do want to make cuts, we can continue to do that."
The Kansas Legislature approved a $58 increase in base state aid per pupil earlier this year, bringing it to a total of $3,838. The figure is rising, but is still below its peak of $4,433 in 2008-2009.
The decline over the past few years caused several cuts throughout the district, including to its 2008 bond package.
Allison said the district continues to look for ways to become more efficient.
"(We) continue to look at how do we automate systems, how do we reduce paper, how to reduce time -time is money, because it's going to deal with our number one commodity, which is people," Allison said. "We're very much a people business."
The budget projection assumes no increase or decrease in enrollment for the upcoming year. Enrollment headcount topped 50,000 for the third consecutive year for this past school year.
The school board is proposing to keep the mill levy stable, avoiding tax increases.
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