The USD Board of Education held a suitability educational forum Monday evening, January 16, at the Beloit Elementary School. The purpose of the meeting was to allow members of the community to have a chance to provide input into what they feel the School District's priorities should be in setting up school revenues and expenditures in the next five years.
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Harrison, introduced Doug Moeckel, from the Kansas Association of School Boards, who was the facilitator for the meeting. While the board had hoped to have a larger attendance from the community they were pleased to have a group of twenty-five discussion participants plus members of the school board, teachers and those in administrative positions present to take part in the discussion groups. Many of those present said after the meeting they felt the exchange of ideas gave them more of an insight into problems the schools are facing and they liked being asked to be have a part in the discussion of possible solutions to help deal with these issues.
Moeckel said he has traveled all over the State and has presented these information forums to 75 districts and 90 communities. He has collected 7000 data points and ideas as to what people think should be changed, reduced or deleted from the school programs in the State to help meet the budget crisis the schools are now facing.
"The Kansas Constitution states that it is the Legislature's job to provide for the intellectual, educational, vocational and scientific improvement of its citizens by establishing and maintaining public schools," Moechel said. He said the State is obligated to provide suitable funding for the schools and the Legislature needs to insure that all mandatory programs are fully funded by the State. He said the schools need be able to have more flex in their education process because what works for one school district doesn't always work for another.
Moechel posed three questions for the audience to consider including, what are Kansas schools doing now to meet these goals, what should the schools add to help kids get a better education and what should the schools stop doing that they are doing now to insure success. When the students complete their K through 12 educational programs they should have a well-rounded education. He said public education is a good investment in the future of our State.
In a recent survey of 500 registered voters some of the things named that people feel need to be stopped is the cutting of staff sizes and increasing to larger class sizes. They also felt current assessment practices such as No Child Left Behind need to be changed. Many felt the schools don't spend enough time teaching the students the basics like they used to. Despite progress some in the survey said students still leave school without the necessary skills and knowledge they will need in the future, he said.
Dr. Harrison spoke to the group about gathering information and helping the school board develop a plan for the district's future. Speaking of the budget situation of USD 273 School District, Harrison said, the district is on a fixed budget and the Jewell land transfer benefits will be over at the end of this next year. At the present time the district's budget is 6.2 million dollars but this will go down to 5.1 million when this happens so the district budget will average a million dollars less at the end of this year.
The Superintendent talked about possible ways to lower the expenditures for the year. He listed activity costs which actually only account for less than 2 percent of the budget and said these expenses are much lower than the general public thinks they are. He talked about ways the board has already made changes and shared adjustments that have been made to try to cuts the budget thus far. Among these changes are working to make the school buildings more energy efficient and cutting or eliminating some positions in the system as it has become necessary.
Dr. Harrison also discussed adding pay to play charges for participation in sports but said this would not cover all of the costs involved. Book fees were also a possibility to be considered. He said the School Board would continue to look at necessary changes that will have to be made to try to stay within the budget as time goes on.
Meeting facilitator, Moechel, divided those present into five discussion groups and gave them a list of areas of expenditures to review when talking about how to adjust the school budget. He also challenged them to think about the adverse impact these reductions would have on the student's ability to achieve and other considerations as to the welfare of the schools as a whole.
The questions he asked the groups to comment on were, "What should Beloit Public Schools eliminate or reduce to help with budget reduction efforts. Suggested areas included cutting personnel, programs, curriculums, facilities, extra curricular activities; as well as any other cuts they might want to suggest making.
Moechel said the hard question is, where do you make cuts and still give each student a well-rounded education? The groups were also asked to discuss ways to generate more revenue to offset the budget issues the district is facing. All discussion points were recorded and turned in to the facilitator at the end of the meeting to be added to the overall survey results.
Greg Shamburg, Chairman of the USD 273 Board of Education thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and sharing their thoughts and ideas for providing input on education priorities for the district in the future.