An uneventful agenda at Wednesday’s Manhattan-Ogden school board meeting cleared the stage for some interesting legislative discussion. USD 383 director of business and finance Lew Faust aired his grievances to board members. Faust has kept up-to-date on action within the House K-12 Education Budget Committee, and he said after a few bad formula proposals, legislators have finally found a formula that functions much like the previous per pupil law that was replaced by block grants. The committee has pledged $4,006 as a baseline per pupil for next year, with an additional $200 per pupil for the next 4 years. This would total around $150 million yearly in new education funding.
However, Faust had concerns about the speed of the process. A bill is not expected to be passed until late May, and Faust indicated that Gov. Brownback’s recent affinity for the “veto” option has caused headaches for legislators. After the bill passes, Faust said it would still take weeks for the Kansas Department of Education to write the budget software that every public school district in the state uses.
Director of maintenance Matt Davis walked board members through a short list of capital outlay projects. Projects include carpet replacement at Amanda Arnold Elementary, replacing asbestos-ridden ceiling tiles at Lee Elementary, and updating the 25-year-old elevators at both Manhattan High School campuses. A Texas firm was awarded the bid for that project.
The board also approved the purchase of new playground equipment and turf for Northview Elementary, and approved the purchase of a new soundsystem for Rezac auditorium.
