Chandler cut $285,000
The Department of Education earlier this month handed out mid-term adjustments to funding allocations and between Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties only one district received an increase.
Chandler took the largest hit of the nine public school districts in Lincoln County. Meeker suffered the second biggest loss in midterm adjustments in the county.
No district in Lincoln County received an increase in funding at midterm.
North Rock Creek School in Pottawatomie County is the only district of 14 in the county that received an increase.
Chandler School Supt. Melody Toma said, “We took a pretty good hit,” noting the district’s midterm adjustment was a loss of $285,441.86. That’s a 7.79 percent drop.
“We expected that at the beginning of the school year when we saw EPIC Charter’s enrollment. Not enough money to compensate because EPIC’s enrollment was so high,” she added.
Toma said, “We knew we were going to lose money at mid-term. I had a good estimate. Still, that’s a pretty good chunk of money to absorb into your budget,” she stressed.
The superintendent thinks the amount of money given EPIC at mid-term “is hurting and it’s hurting Brick and Mortar Public Schools.”
Despite a scathing investigative audit report by the State Auditor and Inspector and the State Department of Education claiming EPIC owes them between $8- $10 million, figures show EPIC Blended received a mid-term adjustment increase of more than $62.8 million and EPIC One-on-One received more than $92.8 million, nearly a $93 million increase at mid-term.
Toma said Chandler’s enrollment is around 1,100 students. “We’re down from last year. Most of that is EPIC,” she is certain, mentioning that Oct. 1 is the key date for having to turn enrollment in to the State Education Department.
“We lost several to EPIC, but we got them back after Oct. 1. But EPIC got the funding for them since they were there Oct. 1.
Toma pointed out the problem is “when we get those students back, they are behind.”
“Still, it’s a difficult amount to absorb into your budget,” she noted, elaborating on the midterm hit.
Her plan to deal with the loss of funds is “we’re tightening our belts. Our goal is not to reduce our staff. The whip cream and cherries on top, we don’t get that anymore,” she emphasized.
She said salaries “are the majority of our budget. We don’t foresee any staff cuts between now and May,” she stated, indicating they are watching their expenses closely.
Meeker School Supt. Jeff Pruitt faces a similar challenge. Meeker’s hit at midterm totaled $246,789, a loss of just over 8 percent.
The loss the district suffered “was not unexpected at all. It was ballpark from what I figured. I was bracing for a big cut,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt said last Oct. 1 the district had an enrollment of 660 students. “That’s down 100 from a year ago,” he added.
He attributed that to a combination of things for Meeker. “Part of it is EPIC, part of it is COVID. It’s hard to say as far as how many we gained back,” he believes.
“If they’re not there on Oct. 1, you don’t get to count them. Prague, they were down about 100 students as well,” he learned.
But Pruitt pointed to, “We know our kids and are communicating with them each day. We know the strengths and weaknesses of these kids. We can offer them the same types of programs that EPIC does at least on the virtual platform,” Pruitt is sure.
Like Toma at Chandler, Pruitt emphasized, “When we get those kids back, they are behind. We’re making our kids accountable and we try at least and don’t allow them to go days and days without signing on to the virtual platform.”
Supt. Blake Moody at North Rock Creek School explained, “Our increase is solely due to our adding another grade to the high school and to adding a couple of classes at the elementary.”
North Rock Creek’s midterm adjustment was a $824,088.82 increase. That’s more than a 26 percent gain.
“I’m thankful we didn’t see a mid-term hit.” Yet, Moody’s prediction in August, without having the EPIC impact, was NRC receiving almost $200,000 more than it actually did.
“I predicted that we should have had just above $1 million based on our student growth,” he said.
Moody elaborated that “EPIC is taking such a big portion of the pie that there’s little left for the rest of the public schools.”
He echoed Toma’s and Pruitt’s assertions “that those EPIC kids are going to come back to our public schools after Oct. 1. The majority of those kids are going to come back to us behind and we have to use our resources to catch them up.”
But Moody pointed out, “We were lucky because we are able to offer a pretty robust virtual option. So we didn’t lose the number of kids that I was prepared to lose.
“It’s a crazy year,” Moody ended.
The amounts of midterm losses of other Lincoln County School Districts include:
White Rock, $22,651.93; Davenport, $63,322.18; Wellston, $52,737.65; Stroud, $1,434.12; Prague, $222,064.72; Carney, $6,617.84; and Agra, $20,973.78.
The amounts of midterm losses of other area Pottawatomie County School Districts include:
Dale, $151,234.36 and McLoud, $330,257.66.