Shawnee Heights board adopts 2025-26 budget, sets 51.441-mill levy after public hearing

The Shawnee Heights USD 450 Board of Education on Sept. 15 adopted a resolution setting a 51.441-mill property tax levy to finance the district’s 2025-26 budget and approved related budget authority after a public hearing and a roll-call vote that passed 5-0.

The action authorizes a budget that the district published as $82,190,547 in its Code 99 notice; that total includes $15,957,118 in interfund transfers, yielding net budgeted expenditures of $66,233,429. The board adopted a resolution stating the levy ‘‘exceed[s] the revenue neutral tax rate of 49.84 mills as calculated by the Shawnee County Clerk’’ and cited Kansas statute 79-29-88 in the resolution language.

District staff told the board the published budget allows for a 2.3% average inflation adjustment for supplies, an average 4.56% pay increase for staff and funding for program and operational needs identified in the district’s post‑fiscal‑year needs assessment. Those items include bilingual student supports and translation services, updated curriculum materials and licenses, targeted at‑risk interventions and instructional materials, capital outlay projects, and special education supports and alternative services.

Board members noted the adopted levy is effectively flat compared with last year’s actual rate: the board will levy 51.441 mills for 2025-26 versus an actual 51.443 mills the prior year, a difference the district described as ‘‘just slightly by 2 thousands of a mill.’’ The district advised the higher levy relative to the revenue-neutral calculation is necessary to maintain the district’s maximum budget authority for the listed funds: the general fund, capital outlay fund, supplemental general (LOB) fund and the bond and interest fund.

The board held a public hearing on the revenue-neutral rate and the budget; no members of the public spoke or submitted comments during the hearing. District staff also noted the Code 99 publication establishes the district’s maximum budget authority for each fund, which provides flexibility to address unplanned expenditures without republishing the budget.

At the same meeting the board approved a district payment related to a contract with Siemens: district staff described a contracted employee working half time through Siemens at a cost of $55,976.28 for 97.5 days. The motion to approve that payment passed on a 5-0 voice vote.

Votes at a glance • Resolution RR2025-09-15: Adopt 2025-26 budget and set a 51.441-mill levy (exceeds revenue-neutral rate of 49.84 mills); Roll call — Erica Price: yes; Rocky Busnitz: yes; Christina Fleming: yes; Christy Van Meter: yes; Rosa Kavasotz: yes; Sarah Sanders: absent; Lauren Theissmiller: absent. Outcome: approved.

• Siemens contracted employee payment: Approve payment of $55,976.28 for 97.5 days (contracted through Siemens). Motion by "Christie"; second by "Rosa." Board voice vote: 5-0. Outcome: approved.

The board chair and superintendent also reviewed routine district business during the regular meeting, including superintendent communications about state assessment timing, upcoming bond information and town-hall meetings, and proposed 2026 board meeting dates. Board members shared school-activity remarks and community notices, including reminders about suicide-prevention resources and Hispanic Heritage Month.

The board adjourned the budget hearing and continued with the regular agenda, taking formal action on the items recorded above.