BonnerSprings.com

The state’s budget pains will reverberate into the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville-Basehor area, with school districts among those bearing the local brunt.

USD 204 Board of Education President Gregg Gibson said the Bonner-Edwardsville district would be greatly affected by the additional cuts to K-12 schools Gov. Mark Parkinson has announced. Gibson said the district would have no choice but to start looking at staff reductions or an across-the-board salary decrease. Total cuts, Gibson said, would be at least $800,000 for the 2009-2010 school year.

“I think we all kind of agree that this is probably not going to be the last cut we’re going to see this year,” he said.

Basehor-Linwood USD 458 Superintendent David Howard said the additional cuts to the state education budget would leave the district with another $402,000 less for the 2009-2010 school year. This newest cut, combined with previous cuts, means Basehor-Linwood is down more than $900,000 from where it started with this year’s budget.

The district has some money it carried over from last year, including a savings of about $22,000 from letting school out early, which Howard says will help a little. With 80 percent of its budget going to salaries and benefits, Howard said the district was unsure where it would compensate for this loss of additional state dollars.

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