The worst of times just got worse for Kansas schools. On Nov. 23, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson released his budget, which called for $36 million in cuts to K-12 education. In Lawrence, the cuts amount to $3.3 million.

  The new budget sent school districts across the state reeling. In western Kansas, districts are considering chopping days from the school calendar. In Emporia, the North Lyon County School District is considering closing an elementary school for next year or possibly next semester.

   In Lawrence, the situation is not as bleak.

   The district has taken a cautious approach since July, when the state legislature cut the district’s budget by $2.5 million. Anticipating further cuts, the district decided to play it safe at that time and withheld half of the educational budget from its schools.

   Now that conservative approach is paying dividends. The district also has at its disposal approximately $6.3 million in contingency funds. These rainy day funds were set aside during Superintendent Randy Weseman’s tenure, and current Superintendent Rick Doll has recommended to the school board that the district dip into those funds now.

   “You’re probably not going to find a rainier day than right now, so now is the time to go to those funds,” Principal Matt Brungardt said.

   However, the situation is not so easily resolved.

   Of those $6.3 million, $4 million must be saved for emergency funds. With a monthly payroll of $5 million, the district cannot risk emptying its savings account entirely. Additionally, the district will try to avoid withdrawing more than $1-1.5 million from the contingency funds in case the situation gets even gloomier.

   Despite the conservative approach and large contingency fund, the district will still struggle to avoid the red, something it is required to do. Over the next few months, all attention will turn to cutting expenses.

   “The first cuts would be closing schools, the second would be administrative cuts, the third—and this would affect kids—would be raising class sizes,” Doll said. “If we raise class sizes by one, that’d save the district $1 million. At LHS, that could mean looking at low-enrollment programs. Teachers could lose their jobs, and class sizes could get bigger.”

Students will remember last year’s cuts that hit many school programs hard. It was only through extensive student lobbying that programs such as prevention were saved.

   However, this round of cuts is far more severe, and everything—including prevention—is back on the table.

  “We’d really prefer not to cut entire programs, but I’m not sure that is going to be possible,” Doll said. “When school closing is on the table, everything is on the table.”

   The district has exhausted every option for raising revenue, and the school board has levied every tax it is permitted to enact. The district has cut back transportation, custodial and classified staff and administrators.

   However, this has not been enough, nor does fundraising provide a realistic option. As the superintendent put it:

   “When you’re in a $6 million hole, a bake sale is not going to do a whole lot of good,” Doll said. “We’re pushing the board for some early decisions—hopefully by early March. If a school is going to be closed we need to make that decision soon, so we can make plans. There are going to be some real significant decisions made here in the next couple of months.”