EudoraNews.com

The Eudora USD 491 Board of Education got about halfway through a monumental task of prioritizing school services Tuesday night, but it did so with a clearer picture of the budget at the state level.

Eudora schools could lose funding because of cuts, including dropping the percent the state reimburses schools for special education and inservice. In addition, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is recommending the Legislature keep former Gov. Bill Graves' $27 per pupil cut, which means less money in the general fund. Because schools are only allowed to raise a percentage equivalent of their own general funds from the LOB, that means less money from local taxpayers, too.

Superintendent Marty Kobza said Eudora was affected because it was a poor district in terms of valuation.

"It's not going to affect Blue Valley; it's not going to affect Shawnee Mission," he said. "It's going to affect us."

The good news for Eudora, however, is that the state won't likely cut the weighting it gives schools with new facilities, like the new Eudora High School. Moreover, if the state decides to give special education students a full-time enrollment weight rather than reimbursing schools, Kobza said Eudora could come out ahead $10,000 or $20,000.

"The real losers in that area are the small schools," he said.

As the Board continued prioritizing school services Tuesday night, Kobza said the double-weighting method the Board used -- assigning items, such as textbooks, a value in their own right as well as their value as one of the district's ancillary services -- would allow the important items to rise to the top.

"It's a way to begin discussion," Kobza said. "It gives you the opportunity to ask where we're spending money.

The Board gave its top rating to all services listed in the category it considered most important, the nuts-and-bolts classes like math, language arts, foreign language and other classes required by the state and necessary for graduation, as well as special education. Kobza reminded the board that cutting down the number of hours a class was offered would mean increasing class size.

The Board also gave highest priority to all services under the second-ranked category of academic enhancement. That includes programs that give students who need it an extra boost.

Board member Brenda Clark said the Board couldn't rank that category's services any lower than a 1 if "we're going to keep with our plan to get all the kids on target from the very beginning."

The third-ranked category, however, required more Board discussion, since it included services as wide-ranging as high school and middle school electives, textbooks and Parents as Teachers. The Board agreed electives for both schools and PAT were services that could only be cut in an emergency situation. Textbooks and extra-help programs like Jumpstart summer school and the New Frontiers program were essential, with vocational education falling just slightly below those. Drivers' Ed, the Board said, fell below the rest of those items.

Kobza reminded the Board the cost for vocational education could lower if Eudora gets its desired satellite location at the current middle school building. Moreover, the district could charge users' fees for items like textbooks and drivers' ed.

The board also drew up a wish list so that during the prioritizing process it didn't forget those services it hoped to offer in the future, like foreign language, art and counseling at the middle school, and a high school assistant principal.

The Board will meet for budget discussion again at 9 a.m. Feb. 8. Until then, members will prioritize items in the remaining categories -- including services under the umbrellas of extra-curricular and supplies -- on their own before discussing them together.

"Historically, we've been on the same page when we do these things," Massey said. "But we may have different reasons why we're there."

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