Indian Creek schools will ask the state to approve a larger budget than it has in past years to cover teacher pay raises and the rising cost of technology, bus maintenance and building repair.
With inflation, the cost of bus maintenance, professional development, technology, fixing equipment and capital projects such as building maintenance is perpetually increasing, Superintendent Tim Edsell said.
“Costs are increasingly yearly,” he said. “It’s best to make sure to have a budgetary estimate to protect against inflationary increases. All those expenses add up.”
Indian Creek schools is asking for about $29 million, with the most significant increase of $1.5 million requested in the school’s operations fund. The operations fund includes all non-education expenses, such as salaries for administrators and some support staff, any costs related to transportation, repairs and maintenance.
School districts often get less money from the state than they ask for. Last year, Indian Creek schools asked for $26.3 million but the Department of Local Government Finance approved $21.6 million.
Indian Creek schools is also planning to spend about $800,000 more than it did this year to pay off debt for capital projects and building repairs, Edsell said.
More than half of Indian Creek schools’ 2020 budget request is for education, which school leaders have estimated will cost about $15.7 million. About 90 to 93 percent of the education budget goes toward teacher salaries, Edsell said.
On Thursday, the Indian Creek school board approved a raise in the salary of first-year teachers from to $36,000 from $35,000, and a $2,000 raise for all other teachers. Despite the increase, first-year teachers at Indian Creek still get paid the least of any Johnson County school district.
Indian Creek schools is also requesting $8.6 million for its operations fund, $3.2 million for debt payments and $1.4 million for its rainy day fund. The district will finish paying off its pension debt in December.
Of the $3.2 million in debt Indian Creek schools will pay off in 2020, $1.4 million will go toward interest on bonds for a variety of renovations at the district’s buildings. The district will make a final payment of $18,527 for renovations to the Central Nine Career Center, and that debt will come off the books. Indian Creek schools will pay $774,000 toward previous construction that added Indian Creek Elementary School to the intermediate school building.
The rest of the money will go toward bonds for a new transportation and maintenance facility, which they will start paying off debt for next year. Indian Creek schools will hold a public meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the administration building to discuss bids for that facility.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”By the numbers” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Indian Creek schools budget requests 2019 vs 2020
Fund;2019;2020
Education;$15,400,000;$15,725,972
Operations;$7,042,500;$8,630,225
Debt service;$2,441,539;$3,238,514
Pension debt;$199,012;$0
Rainy Day;$1,225,000;$1,400,000
Total;$26,308,051;$28,994,711
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