“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

Every educator many not in education understand the importance of providing a quality education to our students.  We understand that these students will become the adults who will be leading our state in the future.  Providing a quality education takes resources; resources require money.  We all want class sizes to be small, we want the latest technology for our students to learn 21^st century skills, we need professional development for our teachers to allow them to improve with research based teaching strategies, we need safe buses, we need HVAC systems that work, upkeep of the facilities, a quality food service program, fine arts programs, athletic programs and the list goes on.

With a predicted $350 million deficit to end the fiscal year, education could possibly see another round of cuts.  The forecast does not look good for the FY18 either as consensus revenue report is predicting and additional $450 million deficit.  Our current Governor would have you believe that Kansas has a spending problem, but I am going to tell you that we have a revenue problem.  In 2012 Governor Brownback along with many legislatures in Topeka voted for a tax policy to eliminate income tax for LLC’s and to lower income tax.  This plan has not created new jobs nor more revenue as we were told.  In fact, we are losing $200 million each year in LLC’s not paying income taxes, and $700 million this year in lowered personal income taxes.  When you add in oil prices and natural gas prices tanking, you have a formula for a disaster. The current tax policy has failed and it is time to repeal our current policy if we want the next generation of Kansans to have bright future.

Kansas ranks 41^st in the nation in average teacher salaries.  In 2011, over 7,000 students were enrolled in colleges to become a teacher, and today that number is less than 5,500.  Many school districts across the state have not been able to fill teaching positions.  Ten years ago it was not unheard of to have 50 applicants for an elementary teaching position.  Today you are lucky, if you have five applicants.  Young educators are leaving the profession, and fewer candidates are pursuing a degree in education.  If this does not stop, this will have a more devastating effect on the economy than not having revenue.

What has this meant to North Ottawa County Schools and what will happen if this trend continues?  Over the past four years USD 239 has seen an increase of only $17,000 in our General Fund Budget.  On the flip side expenditures have increased well over $300,000.  In order to offset the amount, we have had to find ways to cut without hurting our students.  In doing so we have the same amount of work required with less employees.  The cutting is getting tighter each year and with the large deficit to our state budget, it appears that schools will not see any additional funding for next school year as well.

We have three options:  1. raise the mill levy, which is not a popular choice, 2. find more cuts, or 3. dig into our reserves and wait for the storm to pass.  I also want to point out that our mill levy over the same four years has not increased but has actually decreased from 54.102 to where we are today at 53.353.

I hope you will take the time to share your concern about state funding with Senator Elaine Bowers of Concordia and Representative Susan Concannon of Beloit.

Despite the grim outlook of the past several years of lack of funding, North Ottawa County has put students first and will continue to put students first.  We are fortunate to have a community that believes and trusts in education.