GARDEN CITY, Kansas– This weekend Governor Brownback’s education cuts take effect, cutting a total of $45 million from public schools and higher education.
Garden City school leaders are working to come up with solutions to the $470,000 cut, coming down from Topeka.
At first administrators thought they’d have to postpone summer repairs and upgrades to facilities, but after looking at the numbers the district has found a new source of revenue.
“With the enrollment of more students in the district we see more funds available from the state because of our larger enrollment,” explained Public Information Coordinator for the district Roy Cessna.
“We’re hoping that we’re going to be able to absorb a lot of that cost. It’s my understanding we’re going to be able to,” said School Board Vice President Lara Bors.
She says rearranging funds from year to year is hard enough, and she’s happy to see that student services won’t be affected right away, but she’s still concerned about any more cuts.
“It’s very concerning for me, you know I have to boys who have asthma and we don’t have a full time nurse at their school, so if something comes up during gym class, the resources to take care of them aren’t necessarily there,” she said
Superintendent Dr. Rick Atha says they’re waiting on the official audit to see how much funding they’ll get for growth in the district, and hopes this is the end of the cuts for USD 457.
