Taxes in Valley Falls USD 338 will increase slightly less than 3 mills if the school board approves the budget put before it July 12.

It’s a budget that will maintain the present status with no further cuts, reports Superintendent Loren Feldkamp. The district has experienced budget cuts of nearly $280,000 the past two years.

The proposed budget will be published July 29 and the hearing will be held Aug. 9.

The school district has three sources of revenue. One is the state of Kansas that has a 20-mill levy statewide and funds schools at the rate of $4,012 per student. (That figure was supposed to have been $4,493 last year but the highest it ever got before the state began to cut aid was $4,400.)

The second is a local option budget, a local tax levy set by the school board and limited to 30 percent of the total budget. Last year LOB was 28.4 percent of the budget with a levy of 24.376. The proposed budget will be 29.37 percent of the budget and calls for a levy of 27.066 (based on preliminary valuation figures).

The third source of revenue is the federal Title I money that funds various programs.

Added to the mill levy tally will be the bond and issue levy at 9.142 for a total levy of 56.208 mills. The Valley Falls Recreation Commission, funded by a 1-mill levy, is also carried on the school district budget.

The LOB money also attracts additional state aid at the rate of 64 percent. The increased taxes and state aid in the proposed budget will add $63,000 in new money to the budget.

The district no longer has a capital outlay budget because state aid is no longer applied to this levy. To fund capital outlay expenditures, the district uses end-of-year transfers. The board closed out last year’s budget prior to June 30 by transferring $231,455 of unspent funds to capital outlay.

That fund now has a balance of $514,300, which Feldkamp said was healthy once again. Capital outlay funds are used for maintaining buildings and equipment.

He also noted that the construction project ended with about $72,000 left in a contingency fund that will be used to fund street work and an improved parking area.

The budget is built on having the same number of children enrolled as last year, 417, or a full-time equivalency of 408.3. Part-time students and kindergarten pupils are counted in halves or fractions. The weighted enrollment for Valley Falls is 701.3, since the district is given additional aid for at-risk students, transportation, special education, low-proficiency students, etc.

The head count has been 417 the past three years. It was 450 in 2005-06.

The district will be aided the next two years with an additional $46,000 for new construction. The proposed budget projects spending $90,000 for one new school bus.

July 12 was the board’s reorganizational meeting, but there were few if any changes. Paul Brown was re-elected president and LaVerne Clark was re-elected vice president of the board.

The meeting time and place remains 6:30 p.m. the second Monday in the Library.

In other business, the board:

• Added $500 to principals’ salaries for the year.
• Increased hourly classified personnel wages by 10 cents an hour and added $208 to annual salaries for salaried classified personnel (supervisory).
• Added a $1,000 stipend to board clerk Brenda Henson’s salary for having a college degree in accordance with other classified staff.
• Approved a $4,250 bid to Clark Construction to do the preparation work on a street and parking lot. Owner and board member LaVerne Clark left the meeting for this discussion. The board voted 6-0 for approval.
• Approved a $25,200 contract for Concrete Unlimited (in a special July 15 meeting) to concrete a block of street between the new addition and the vocational building and do the cement work for two entry ways into the new parking area west of the school.
• The board was told that head cook Gin Birk had been awarded a fresh fruit and vegetable grant for the second year valued at $15,620. Students are provided with fresh fruits for snacks throughout the day and on special occasions.