Web posted
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Schools lower taxes to seek bond issue
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
Arkansas City taxpayers will get a break from the local school district for next school year. A budget for 2007-08 school year would result in a 4 percent school property tax decrease.
For the owner of a $100,000 home, that translates into about $21 less in property tax allocated for school funding than was allocated last year.
But USD 470 also is preparing to ask voters to approve a multi-million dollar bond issue for district-wide renovations of school buildings, a school administrator said today. The bond issue could be launched this fall.
On Monday night, the USD 470 school board authorized the publishing of the proposed $24.2 million budget in The Traveler, probably sometime within the next week.
Publishing the budget is a required step under state statute that must occur at least 10 days before a public budget hearing. The board set that hearing for its next regular school board meeting Aug. 13.
"We're very fortunate that state support is increasing for us so we are able to decrease our local tax for schools," Superintendent Ron Ballard said today
The increase in state support is based on a funding formula that provides more state aid to districts with a higher poverty level than others in their size category, Ballard said. Arkansas City ranks among the poorest districts with student populations of about 3,000 kids. Wealthy districts in that size category include Goddard, Andover and Emporia.
In addition to its $18.76 million general fund -- 93 percent of which is state money -- the local school budget includes another $5.4 million in supplemental general funds. These funds are called the local option budget, or LOB.
The LOB is created by multiplying a percentage factor times the general fund, Ballard said.
At last night's meeting, Assistant Superintendent J.K. Campbell noted that the Ark City district can use up to 30 percent of its general fund budget as LOB. Currently, the district uses 29 percent.
The total budget for the coming school year is about $2 million higher than the 2006-07 budget, Campbell said. The increase in budget is based on a per-pupil increase in funding that state legislators passed two years ago.
"This year we'll have 25 first graders who were kindergarten students last year that we did not anticipate," Campbell said. "As first-graders, each student will be counted as one FTE (full-time equivalent)." As kindergarten students they were counted .50 FTE)
The largest percentage of new dollars in the budget will go towards at-risk programs such as summer school and after-school programs, Campbell said.
In March 2007, a $32 million school facilities renovation plan was unveiled at a school board meeting.
It would include the building of a new football stadium west of Arkansas City High School and would expand slightly five of the six local elementary schools. For it to become a reality would require a bond election to request a tax increase. At that time, board officials said an election wouldn't be feasible until next fall.
A follow-up meeting was held in May during which school board members suggested revisions to the plan.
"I have visited with the architect and he told me plans for all the buildings are virtually complete," Ballard told the board last night.
"Time draws very close if we do anything this fall. I recommend that the board meet with the architect on the plans and final costs and decide whether or not to proceed."
Now is a good time to proceed, Ballard said today, because state aid for capital improvements has moved from 48 percent to 50 percent.
"Ten to 12 years ago state aid was 35 percent," he said. "That's almost a 15 percent increase."
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