The Shawnee Mission School District superintendent says it's "highly likely" that Kansas state aid will come in below what's budgeted this year and the district will be forced to tap into budget reserves.
Dr. Jim Hinson told the Board of Education at Thursday night's regular meeting that he's trying to prepare for reductions in the block grant funding passed last session by the Legislature.
"Based on what we know at this time we have great concern about the state's ability to fund the formula that's in place," Hinson says.
The state missed it's revenue estimate in June by $22 million. State income tax revenue last month was $14 million short and sales taxes were off by $11 million. Sales tax in Kansas went up this month.
Still, Hinson says, Shawnee Mission is preparing for state aid to be cut anywhere between $1.5 million and $5 million this fiscal year. He says the district believes it can handle any reduction without furloughs or program cuts.
"We do not want to be in a situation where all of a sudden in January we lose a very significant amount of money and we're trying to figure out what do we do to make ends meet in the middle of a fiscal year" Hinson says.
This is the second big district in Johnson County to have budget woes so early in the fiscal year.
Last week Olathe said it has a $2 million deficit and it will layoff 80 employees and cut programs to balance the budget.
