Olathe schools to cut $20 million, eliminate jobs. Critics question the choices
The Olathe school district is planning to cut about $20 million from next year’s budget and eliminate some positions, officials said, due to declining enrollment during the pandemic and other challenges.
The move could be a sign of what’s to come for some other districts that face similar obstacles as they launch into their budget deliberations.
In Olathe, while reductions in department budgets are expected across the board, the district has confirmed it will cut library clerk positions next school year — about 15 total at middle and high schools, spokeswoman Becky Grubaugh said.
She said Wednesday that kindergarten aides and some other aide positions also will be eliminated, without providing a total number.
“Libraries will continue to be run by our certified library media specialists. All library clerks will have the opportunity to reapply for open positions within the district and Olathe Public Schools is committed working with each individual who is impacted to help them apply for other opportunities within the district,” she said in an email.
One employee tweeted that she is “heartbroken that Olathe School District decided to lay off all of the high school & middle school library clerks.”
“I make $12/hour & I’m not sure how this paltry sum is going to save the district enough for its budget shortfall. What I do know is I love my job and those kids,” the library clerk said.
Other employees and community members have voiced frustration over the decisions, arguing that higher paying administrator roles or salaries should instead be targeted for cuts. One employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was frustrated that officials began the cuts after voters earlier in March approved a $298.3 million bond issue for the district.
Meanwhile, the Lawrence school board approved almost $6 million in budget cuts, including the elimination of dozens of teacher positions, partly due to enrollment declines, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
In Blue Valley, a district spokeswoman said, “we are seeing an increase in budget pressure resulting from the pandemic. At this point, the district is looking closely at the budget forecast and any need to manage a future budget shortfall.”
It is so far unclear where other cuts could be made in Olathe. Grubaugh said the district is studying budget challenges and adjusting funding for next school year.
“The Olathe Public Schools is looking at all areas of the budget at all levels and all buildings for opportunities to realign funding to ensure we are operating within a balanced budget. This includes reductions in department budgets and school budgets, as well as some position eliminations,” she said.
The district also expects about 200 employees to either retire, move or leave the district this year, and Grubaugh said, “Our hope is that this attrition will assist with this realignment and result in a balanced budget.”
Earlier in March, the district announced it would close Olathe Virtual School this fall, “due to factors outside of the district’s control, including unsustainable costs of running a virtual school and low enrollment.”
Officials said in a press release that the district will work with virtual school teachers “and staff to find open positions in the district this fall. It is anticipated that all staff will be able to find positions in the district for 2022-23 and beyond.”
Olathe enrollment slows
The district plans to cut about 6% from its operating budget for next school year.
Grubaugh said that’s partly due to declining enrollment over the COVID-19 pandemic. Olathe has seen five decades of continual enrollment growth. But that growth has started to slow down.
In the fall of 1985, the district enrolled 11,230 students. That had nearly doubled by the year 2000, and by 2010, roughly 28,000 students were enrolled, district data shows. The district broke 30,000 by 2017.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, the district’s enrollment peaked at 30,299 students, according to its annual September headcount. But enrollment fell by more than 1,000 students in 2020, to 29,244. This past fall, the district recovered about half of those students, for an enrollment of 29,794.
Several school districts across the region have seen lower enrollment since the pandemic began. This past fall, Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson told the State Board of Education that 15,000 fewer students were enrolled in Kansas public and private schools in 2021 than in 2019. Many of those lost students, he said, likely enrolled in virtual or home school.
In general, it appears Olathe district officials are expecting the growth seen in previous years to continue to slow down. The Olathe Reporter stated in an article that John Hutchison, deputy superintendent, said during teacher union contract negotiations last week, that the district will “never grow at 1,000 kids a year again.”
“The unexpected decline in enrollment was due to COVID. However, we are seeing a trend back upward in our enrollment and anticipate to continue that growth at a steady, but slower pace,” Grubaugh said in an email.
In recent years, a growing number of residents and development dollars have been flowing into less populated areas of Johnson County, such as De Soto, as well as Gardner and Spring Hill to the south.
The Spring Hill district has seen enrollment grow in recent years, from 4,427 students in 2019, to 5,802 in 2020. The district saw a dip in enrollment this past fall, to 5,331.
Olathe budget challenges
In Olathe, Grubaugh said that other factors contributing to the district’s budget challenges include increased operational costs and other “unforeseen budget challenges related to the pandemic.”
Federal COVID-19 relief dollars had helped districts cover some of those shortfalls during the pandemic.
Grubaugh said another issue is a decrease in “Board of Tax Appeals funding that is given to fast growing districts as new facilities are opened.”
The district has relied on additional property taxes allocated to new schools in growing districts. Voters passed a bond issue in 2013 that made way for the construction of the district’s fifth high school, Olathe West, which cost $82 million to build and opened in the fall of 2017, for example.
The state board of tax appeals may authorize a growing school district to make a property tax mill levy to fund new building operations, money that tapers off over several years. As district growth has slowed in recent years, so has its construction of new buildings, meaning that money will run out.
Grubaugh said, “because we are not opening new buildings, we are not receiving any new BOTA (board of tax appeals) funds. Additionally, BOTA funds we had previously been receiving for new buildings are now declining and will ultimately be zero.”
Earlier in March, voters overwhelmingly approved the district’s request to issue $298.3 million in bonds to replace a middle school building and fund several facility, technology and safety improvements.
More information will be released about proposed changes to the district budget as the planning process continues.
“None of the decisions related to budget have been made easily. This is a challenging situation and these decisions are incredibly difficult to make,” Grubaugh said. “The district’s number one priority through these budget realignments is to do our best to minimize the impact to students and the classroom, and support any staff who may be impacted by these decisions.”
Calls for administrator’s removal
Some in the community have said they are frustrated that the district is deciding to eliminate lower paying positions while maintaining the employment of an administrator who was found last year to have committed sexual harassment.
Rich Wilson, the district’s director of curriculum and assessment, has at least three letters of reprimand in his personnel file, stemming from what a former superintendent deemed to be inappropriate behavior toward three female co-workers who filed complaints, according to documents obtained by The Star.
One of those complaints fit the district’s definition of sexual harassment. Former superintendent John Allison also recommended that Wilson be reprimanded in the other cases as well and take sensitivity training.
The Star previously reported that the Olathe district offered a $200,000 settlement agreement to one of the women, a district administrator who said Wilson sexually harassed her, if she were to quit her job and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
When she refused the offer, she was barred from district property last fall and told she could work from home when she did not let the matter drop, according to district documents. She was assigned fewer duties and told that her position was being eliminated at the end of this school year.
Wilson’s job pays more than $100,000 a year.
“Layoffs today in 233 (the Olathe district) for folks making the least amount of money. I’m grieved. These folks did nothing wrong and are losing their jobs. The harasser still has his six-figure gig,” Tina Ellsworth, who left her job at the district last summer, tweeted.
A handful of students gathered earlier in March to protest Wilson’s employment. And hundreds have signed Ellsworth’s petition demanding the district remove him.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
