School cuts may be having an impact, super says

?When we compare last year?s kids to kids two years ago, our rating assessment scores have declined?including math scores?for the first time on the NAPE test in years.?<p>?Steve Noble, USD 410 superintendentAs the Kansas Legis?la?ture reconvenes this week, budget issues will be high on the agenda following another year of less-than-projected tax revenue.

The future of public school funding is high on the list for many Kansans. Rural school districts in particular find themselves struggling to make ends meet while at the same time the state system as a whole is warding off criticism in some circles that it?s not doing an adequate job of preparing students for success.

In December, the Kansas Association of School Boards countered that criticism with a report that shows the public school system in Kansas is one of the most efficiently run schools systems in the country.

? Kansas ranks in the top tier of states when it comes to education outcomes, the report shows, while ranking below the national average in per pupil spending.

? Only seven states have better student outcomes than Kansas on a majority of 14 measures that cover graduation rates, National Assessment of Educational Progress scores and ACT and SAT scores.

? Every one of the states that rank ahead of Kansas spends more per pupil than Kansas. In fact, an average of per pupil spending in those seven states is $15,353, which is nearly one-third more than what Kansas spends.

? Six of those seven states have a lower poverty rate than Kansas. In many cases, students from poverty require additional services and cost more to educate.

? Of the 42 states that trail Kansas, 19 spend more per student than Kansas.

If the report is true, the question could be asked: Given their academic success and financial efficiency, do Kansas school districts really need more state funding?

Early indicators

Steve Noble, superintendent for USD 410-Hills?boro, said the answer is a definite ?yes.?

?(KASB is) making that argument because schools are getting hit pretty hard from anti-public education lobbying groups in our state that are blaming schools for inefficiencies?that we?re spending plenty of money on schools and they don?t need any more money,? he said.

With the current block-funding plan in place, Noble said USD 410 is operating with $433,673 less for classroom education than it had during peak funding.

Noble said the impact of budget is more evident when you look at local situations as most districts are forced to cut staff and services to balance expenses.

The academic consequence of under funding schools may only be emerging as districts are forced to cut staff and services to balance expenses.

?When we compare last year?s kids to kids two years ago, our rating assessment scores have declined?including math scores?for the first time on the NAPE test in years,? Noble said.

?Some believe it is because we have been slowly eroding away the educational support for students because of budget-cutting, because of not keeping up with the cost of inflation and because we have not been adding services.?

Counseling needs

One USD 410?s strategies for balancing its budget was to reduce counseling services. The district had three full-time counselors on staff prior to the state cutbacks?one each at the elementary, middle and high school.

Currently, the district a 3/5-time counselor at the elementary school and one full-time counselor for the middle and high schools.

?We?re not doing that justice,? Noble said. ?The expectation for college and career readiness for all of our students is up. We expect every student to be ready for a vocational career and be successful in that out of high school, or going into post-secondary training, whether that be technical training, a two-year training or a four-year training.

?To do that, every student needs a plan,? he said. ?Every student needs to know they are on track for success, and the parent of those students need to know their students are on a track for success.

?That takes counseling and advising. That takes a lot of effort from a lot of adults around each individual student.?

Noble said the recent decline in NAPE scores may be a fluke, but it may be signaling a trend.

?It?s finally catching up,? he said. ?The challenge with that is I believe (assessment scores) take a long time to increase; it also takes several years to turn that around and start moving downward.?

Noble said the standards for student success in Kansas will only increase.

?One of the things that Kansas accreditation is kicking around is an individual plan of study for every high school student?which involves career exploration, courses that will flow into the child?s interests, possibly some post-secondary training in high school,? he said.

?So we?ve been ramping up (expectations) and cutting back (funding).?

Additional reductions

Reducing access to one-on-one academic counseling is only one consequence of budget cuts, Noble said.

?Because we don?t have a middle school counselor anymore, and the high school counselor does both buildings (grades 6-12), we are probably missing some of the social-emotional counseling at the middle school,? he said.

?Anytime an issue comes up there, it takes away from that person?s ability to do the college and career counseling.?

To fill the void, Noble said the district is considering a program that trains classroom teachers to be student advisers.

?When you don?t have those specialized positions, you have to put that burden on the teachers,? Noble said. ?It?s just another thing they have to pick up and help us do.

?Over time I think we will be putting more counseling back in our buildings, but I don?t know when that will be going forward.?

But Noble admitted that adding counseling to a teacher?s workload comes with a price, too?especially at a time when teacher salaries have essentially been frozen in order to balance the books.

?We haven?t given our staff?classified, certified, administration?any significant raises in the last several years because of the budget constraints,? Noble said. ?Those things aren?t talked about a lot, but it?s a reality to those people doing those jobs.?

Administrative support for teachers has taken a hit, too.

?Anytime we can cut a position because of loss of enrollment or consolidation of services?like in our middle school, high school office area, we consolidated them,? Noble said.

?We?ve cut an administrative position out of there and merged the two offices into one,? he added.

?While we?re hopeful that won?t negatively impact teaching and learning, I have no doubt that teachers will be taking on some more administrative roles than previously because they?re just going to have to.

?So I think it remains to be seen what sort of impact it will have on our schools.?

Next week: The impact of state cuts beyond the classroom.

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