Our new District Superintendent, Dr. Chapman, recently updated PTO Presidents on Kansas legislation and budget cut impacts. Key points are below:
Kansas Legislation Impacting BV
The current legislative decisions did not go the way District leadership wanted. Desired funding for public schools was not addressed. Instead, approved legislation included a new bell-to-bell no cell phone policy, a requirement for students to pass a civics test to graduate and a requirement for schools to prevent student walk-outs for protests. These are costly and complex, if not next to impossible, to implement. The cell phone policy alone would cost the District an additional $3.5-4m in capital to implement and require additional staff supervision complexity and time.
Impact of Budget Cuts
Ms. Chapman explained that District budget cuts are caused by decreasing student enrollment (down 3.4%) and lack of reimbursement for special education costs as mandated by the State of Kansas (BV has been using their reserves to bridge the gap). To achieve the budget reductions the District is investigating: not back-filling open positions, cancelling classes with enrollment less than 18 students, eliminating 5th grade strings, increasing school fees and closing schools for the summer to save on staff and utilities. They are also re-organizing SPED support - the fastest growing population of students in Blue Valley - as well as using District offices - vs classrooms - for some support classes such as ESL.
What can parents do to support Blue Valley?
Ms. Chapman and the Board of Education urge parents to write your Kansas representatives and tell them what you think about the new legislation and about the intent to rework (and most likely reduce) the state funding formula. Then get out and VOTE! Kansas legislators will be up for re-election this Fall and the District urges you to vote for reps that have proven their support of public schools. Finally, VOTE NO on the judge constitutional amendment to avoid stacking the court with justices who will oppose school funding at mandated levels.
Click HERE to learn more about Blue Valley District legislative priorities and actions you can take to support our school.
