Superintendents watching state proposal on 'realignment'

A legislative proposal that would realign school districts in Kansas is not popular with local district superintendents.

Under House Bill 2504, a proposal currently in the House Education Committee, the number of school districts in Kansas would be cut by more than half --from 286 to 132 -- as many districts would be absorbed into others.

The bill would require every county with 10,000 or fewer students to be a single district. For counties with 10,000 or more students, districts must realign so each has at least 1,500 students. Only 50 school districts in Kansas would remain unaffected by the proposed changes.

In Bourbon County, Fort Scott and Uniontown would merge to create one school district, according to the estimated impact of the bill and district reallocation provided by the Kansas Association of School Boards, which opposes the bill.

USD 234 Superintendent Bob Beckham said he's read up on the bill but doesn't agree with the proposal. He also said the bill doesn't address possible effects or specifics of how the plan would work.

"From what I've read, I don't think they've given enough thought to the different problems they could create in taking such a drastic step," he said. "I'm not completely certain from what I've read, that I completely understand what problem they're trying to solve."

Lansing Republican Rep. John Bradford, who sponsored the bill, estimates the proposal would save $170 million over 10 years.

Beckham said he supports the idea of saving money, but he doesn't think this is the right plan.

"Saving money seems to be all they're about right now and I don't think this (bill) takes much into account meeting the needs of students in Kansas," Beckham said. "I think if they (legislature) would spend less time trying to figure out how to cut costs and more time trying to fix the revenue stream problem they've created, they wouldn't have to take such drastic steps."

USD 235 Interim Superintendent Jan Hedges said she's also looked at the gist of the bill and doesn't think it will have a positive impact on smaller rural schools and communities.

"I think it's going to hurt small school districts and small communities," Hedges said. "If it goes through, it will definitely have an impact on small districts and small schools."

The bill would require the Kansas State Board of Education to oversee redesign of districts by July 1, 2017 and would take effect one year later. Under the proposal, 99 of the state's 105 counties would each have one district.