KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Public School districts in the state of Kansas are short on cash. State budget officials delayed funding for the third time in as many months. They are shifting money around to first pay bills and state employees.
As a result, state payments to schools, some $200 million is late. The impact is obvious.
“If you didn’t know when you were going to be paid, that’d be a challenge,” said David Smith, spokesman for the Kansas City, Kansas Public School district. “Even if you had money in the bank, it’s a challenge.”
Smith said is district is challenged, waiting for state funding. School administrators are scrambling to pay teachers and staff on-time.
“This is the third time we haven’t received our payment on time and each time, (our school board has) used what we call our contingency money in order to pay staff,” Smith said.
They have $8 million saved for emergencies. However, the district’s payroll costs $7 million. At the same time, their “rainy day fund” is already leaking. Smith said they spent 10-percent last November during budget cuts. The money was used to protect programs like debate, forensics and athletics, things important to JC Harmon High School freshman Miguel Arredondo.
“It gives me a reason to go to school besides just learning,” Arredondo said.
“There have been a lot of voices saying districts have too much extra money,” Smith said. “They say (districts) shouldn’t have contingency funds. They shouldn’t have ending balances.”
But, Smith insists KCKSD’s “rainy day fund” keeps the district afloat in times like these. He just hopes it doesn’t dry up anytime soon.
“I think you know from a business standpoint, if you can’t pay people, you can’t run an organization,” Smith said. “So, without that money, we wouldn’t be able to run our schools.”
State budget officials expect 100 of the states’ school districts to get by on contingency funds. They also expect to pay each district sometime next week.
