Task force hears how Kansas local option budget (LOB) is calculated and funded

Staff from the legislative research office summarized how Kansas law determines a school district’s local option budget and how supplemental state aid fills funding gaps. Jason Long, a reviser’s office staff member, told the task force: "School districts have to adopt at least a 15% LOB. That's 15% of the total foundation aid calculated for the school year, and they can go up to a statutory limit of 33% of the total foundation aid." He explained that an alternative base aid (originally set at $44.90) is used to compute LOB when it exceeds the statutory base aid and that the alternative amount is adjusted by inflation each year.