JoCo Schools to KsLeg: Fund Our Schools!
- Stand Up Blue Valley
- Jan 23
- 2 min read
School Board members and district Superintendents from all 6 Johnson County school districts made a plea this week to BV-area legislators: 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. (That is, to the legislators who attended the invitation - see below.)
They distributed the attached handout which explains:
In 2024-2025, districts transferred $1397 𝙋𝙀𝙍 𝙎𝙏𝙐𝘿𝙀𝙉𝙏 out of their general funds to cover excess Special Education costs
Total Base State Aid per Pupil = $5378 (before taking out the $1397)
Blue Valley transferred $16,915,190 from ALL students because the state is not paying its legally-defined share of SpEd costs. (Yes - That’s MILLION)
Based on the state appropriation for funding K-12 this year and due to the decreased student enrollment, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗽𝗘𝗱.
According to a post from BV BOE VP Clay Norkey, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙑-𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙨:
Sen. Kellie Warren
Sen. TJ Rose (he stopped in to be seen, but left after introductions)
Rep. Chris Croft
Rep. Sean Tarwater
What do these 4 BV-area legislators have in common? They all CLAIM to support BV Schools. They ran on support for our schools. Yet when it comes time to vote on funding and other critical matters, they often vote AGAINST our schools.
𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙣. 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙑𝙊𝙏𝙀. Email them to ask: Do you support using money already in the K-12 Education Budget to fully fund Special Education excess costs - over $16 million to BV Schools this year? Don’t let them get away with a vague answer or say they voted for the last school funding bill (which did NOT include excess SpEd costs). It’s a simple question and constituents deserve a clear answer.
We deeply appreciate BV BOE members and Superintendent Chapman who are working hard to educate legislators about the impacts on ALL kids of a $16 million-plus deficit to the budget.
Clay Norkey’s post about the event:
Read more on the Blog:
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