HARTFORD — Olpe and Hartford high schools could merge into one school in order to cut expenses in the Southern Lyon County school district. But that change is far from certain after a school board meeting Wednesday night when board members decided to study three options, including making no changes to building assignments.
About 45 people attended the meeting where the board had a lengthy discussion regarding a more than $400,000 shortfall in the budget for the next school year. It’s a situation faced by many school districts across the state after both the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Mark Parkinson made repeated cuts in school funding.
Since July 2008, the Southern Lyon County budget has dropped from $4,622,732 to $3,836,093. Superintendent Mike Argabright said state cuts of $202,836 on Nov. 24 of this year made the budget even tougher, causing a $423,836 shortfall for the 2010-11 budget cycle.
The state had pledged $4,433 base state aide per pupil and rounds of cuts pushed that amount down to $4,012 per pupil.
With last month’s cuts to the budget, Argabright said the district was looking at a $423,836 deficit, which includes $202,836 in state cuts, $50,000 in remaining amount that was not filled last year and $171,000 in projected decrease in general fund and Local Option Budget due to state cuts and declining enrollment.
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