USD 383 Board of Education

Oct. 19, 2011
Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer

Regular meeting:
The board discussed the proposed changes to the state's funding formula that had been presented at the Kansas Association of School Boards' conference. Potential changes included reducing the 20 mills collected locally that go to the state to 10 or 15 mills, eliminating the cap on the local mill levy which would allow local boards to set the levy at the level they desire, keeping special education funding the same, and using a county sales tax for education funding, which could be problematic for districts like USD 383 which encompass more than one county. Dave Colburn said he was not personally buying it that the changes to the formula will be better for Kansas.

Carol Adams, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, presented state assessment results to the board. The district as a whole had achieved 93 "standards of excellence." The greatest gains in performance were for students with disabilities and students who are English language learners. Adams reported that 38% of 4th graders who had been students in USD 383 for at least two years had made gains in their reading scores. There was still an achievement gap between minority students and white students, but the gap had decreased from a peak in 2006. Colburn commented that the achievement gap had been the impetus for creating the diversity coordinator position, and minority students had experienced gains since the creation of the position. (The diversity coordinator position was eliminated for the 2011-12 school year as a means to reduce the budget.)

Board members discussed compensation for substitute teachers. Administration had recommended increasing the pay by $3/day. When the item had been previously discussed, the majority of the board had preferred to raise the pay by $5/day to be more competitive with nearby districts. Dr. Bob Shannon, Superintendent, said that increasing the pay by $5/day would put the district right at the amount budgeted for substitutes, and if there were more illness than usual, contingency funds could be used to fund any overrun. The board approved 7-0 to increase substitute teacher compensation by $5/day.