KS Supreme Court closes school funding lawsuit

A new move by the Kansas Supreme Court could make it harder for schools to argue they’re fairly funded. The state Supreme Court closed a years-long funding lawsuit Tuesday. It required the state to meet adequacy and equity requirements in financing public education. If the budget didn’t meet that requirement, it could be challenged. Since that ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court held oversight over K-12 education funding, and the state fully funded it for the last five years. Now, the court is ending that oversight, and schools would have to start from scratch to challenge budgets. Schools would have to file a new lawsuit in a lower court and work their way up. “The legislature must not take this ruling as license to cut funding from our public schools and crush an entire generation of Kansas students. Our schools have made so much progress over the past five years because we’ve fully funded K-12 education. Our students can’t afford to turn back the clock – not back to tax experiments funded by school budget cuts, to 4-day school weeks, or to costly lawsuits. I am committed to standing against any and all attempts to strip our schools of the funding they need to prepare our students for success.” Statement from Governor Laura Kelly (D)
Source: KSNT 27 News

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T12:11:14-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Streets dominate Frontenac discussion

The Frontenac City Council spent most of Monday night’s meeting talking about an issue that many city governments are wrestling with this time of year – streets, potholes and repair. One group of citizens turned out with questions and concerns about the condition of North Sugar Creek Road. Others were there to talk about Barbara Lane and Herman Lane in northwest Frontenac and at least one was there with concerns about the future of Free King Highway. City Administrator John Zafuta said the city was aware of the problems on Sugar Creek Road, which have worsened rapidly because of winter weather and heavy truck traffic serving the Sugar Creek Packing Plant and the Diamond Dog Food Plant. “There are about 100 yards, there, where it looks like the top 3 inches have just collapsed,” Zafuta said. “We had hoped to get through to next year, because there are some state funds that could be available.” Zafuta said he is working with Triad Environmental to assess the stretch of road and make suggestions about what might be done to stabilize it and keep it from deteriorating further until a permanent solution can be found. That permanent solution will have to take into account not only the current truck traffic, but anticipated growth in the future. “According to them (officials with Diamond Dog Food and Sugar Creek Packing), we could see another 200 trucks a day in a couple of years,” Zafuta said. He’ll share the information he gets from Triad with the council, Zafuta said, so they can discuss how to move forward.
Source: Morning Sun

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T12:10:01-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

County and many cities struggling with available housing

Several cities and parts of rural Harvey County have common ground with a shortage of houses on the market and limited available land to build more housing. After an unprecedented increase in housing appraisal costs that was determined by market value, realtors in the area said the increase was being driven by a lack of houses on the market. Several cities confirmed that was the case but said one of the problems they were facing was limited land for housing. Karen Rothe, Harvey County’s planning, zoning and environmental director, manages housing starts for the rural areas in the county. Rothe said there were 15 housing starts for 2023. Rothe said she has noticed that houses on the market go quickly and new houses aren’t being built. She said new builds have slowed because some people wanting to build have to wait with the increased costs in materials. She added that when people move, fewer houses are being added to the market with the rise in Airbnbs in the county. After being approved to split off a five-acre lot from a 40-acre lot, she said this practice has become quite popular. She said she gets frequent phone calls asking her what the smallest size split is allowed or how many splits are allowed.
Source: Harvey County Now

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T11:48:28-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Property values rise again

Allen County residents can expect to see a potential 10-25 percent increase in property valuations this year, according to Allen County Appraiser Jami Clark. “That doesn’t mean every single property,” Clark clarified to county commissioners Tuesday morning. “We might come across a property that we think can hold its current valuation.” The appraiser’s office will send valuations out April 1. Clark noted that properties sometimes get undervalued or overvalued. “It goes both ways,” she said. “It is not as often to be overvalued.” Giving an example, she noted that one house valued at $263,000 recently sold for $260,000. “So, we were within 10%, but we were $3,000 over,” she said. In contrast, a house was valued at $11,000 that sold for $36,000. Another was valued at $148,800 that sold for $205,000. “These undervalued houses are why the valuations are increasing 10 to 25 percent,” noted Commissioner Bruce Symes. Clark agreed. “We look at what’s happened in the last year and determine what we consider the interest to be on how much difference there is from our valuations to what they actually sold for,” Clark explained. “Most likely, we’ve undervalued rather than overvalued.” From valuation to sale price, the state gives the county a leeway of 10 percent. “People say we’re just ‘assuming’ when we make the valuations,” said Clark. “That’s all we can do. Assume what’s going on with the dwelling. By seeing a new roof and windows, we assume they’ve remodeled the house. So, we say that it’s been remodeled.” Clark added she encourages people who are thinking about signing up for the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) to visit with her to clear up any confusion on how it works. The program offers a tax rebate to property owners who make improvements, such as new structures or remodeling efforts, to their properties. The rebate is equal to the amount their property taxes increase because of the improvements.
Source: The Iola Register

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T11:44:04-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

A one-of-a-kind behavioral health facility is coming to Fort Scott

Ft. Scott to soon be home to a one-of-a-kind behavioral health facility. “You know, we all need health care. As you know, in 2019, we lost our hospital and recently lost our E.R.. So we’re always looking to a different kind of health care. And this need is going to bring in doctors, etc,” said James Harris, Bourbon County Chairman Commissioner. The Kansas Renewal Institute will soon take over the former Mercy Hospital Fort Scott facility. Officials say the incoming provider will be designed to treat both children and adults, offering several services, including comprehensive addiction support. “We’ll be accepting patients for the whole continuum of care from detox stabilization through outpatient. So obviously we have a large enough space here. We can do multiple units. We’re serving adolescents and adults for detox, residential, and then as well as outpatient services here too,” said Jonathan Gross, JGHealthcare Solutions CEO. The JGHealthcare Solutions CEO says they want to be more than just a local facility, and instead be, quote, “a beacon of hope for the entire state of Kansas.” “It’s important to be able to offer all those services to meet the needs of the community. So will we see a big need for eating disorders versus substance use disorders and mental health? We want to be duly licensed to be able to provide all those services depending on the need that we see,” said Gross.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T11:11:46-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Study examines teacher retention in Kansas

As the K-12 teacher shortage increases across the U.S., including in Kansas, school districts are looking for answers on how to recruit and keep teachers. In Kansas, organizations including the Educator Perceptions and Insights Center are educating school districts one by one. EPIC is trying to combat the 31% increase in teachers leaving the profession from 2020 to 2022, which resulted in a projected economic impact of $49 million due to teacher turnover, the organization said. As of 2022, there were 55,000 teacher vacancies nationwide, as reported by Teacher Shortages in the U.S. In Kansas, the number of shortages from 2022 to 2023 was more than 1,600, with a profession dropout rate of 11% after the 2021-22 school year, the Teacher Shortages website reported. As of October 2022, 18% of all public schools had at least one vacancy and more than one quarter had more vacancies, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. EPIC and Emporia State University, in collaboration with the Kansas National Education Association, Kansas Association of School Boards and the United School Administrators-Kansas, surveyed approximately 60% — or 24,000 respondents — of K-12 Kansas educators. The average age of those surveyed was 43, with 44% classified as Generation X and 38% being millennials. The majority of those surveyed have worked in more than one district. What the survey found is teachers are looking for a number of items, including higher pay and support. The support includes help with finding substitute teachers, more mental-health services, more planning time, more development opportunities and better leadership on school boards.
Source: Wichita Business Journal

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T11:10:40-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Municipal Bond Trends for February 6, 2024

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

Henry Schmidt2024-02-07T09:54:01-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Leaders to consider new hearing process for some violations of Douglas County’s animal code

Douglas County leaders will soon consider a new process for enforcing the county’s animal code — specifically, for handling cases where people with animals that are dangerous or a nuisance have repeatedly failed to comply with the rules. At their meeting on Wednesday, county commissioners will consider implementing an administrative hearing process for animal code violations to either enforce citations or provide other avenues to resolve complaints. Currently, there are no formal sanctions or fines for violating the animal code, and cases are exclusively resolved through a process facilitated by the Lawrence Humane Society, which the county has contracted with since 2022 to enforce the code in unincorporated areas of the county.
Source: LJWorld

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T07:28:38-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Grow Hays’ “Secret Sauce”

Throughout the state, Grow Hays is recognized as unique and Executive Director credit’s this to a “secret sauce,” the organization’s strong relationships with municipalities, governing agencies, the business community and with individuals and organizations within the Community who do not provide funding, such as USD489.
Source: Hays Daily News

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T07:14:50-06:00February 7, 2024|News|

Lawmakers eye school finance policy change: Law would help growing districts, hurt shrinking ones

A controversial proposed change to school finance law would benefit district with growing enrollment while hurting ones with declining enrollment. Legislators are considering House Bill 2485 and Senate Bill 386, which would require school funding to be based on the current school year or the preceding school year. The Senate version could be passed out of a committee this week.
Source: CJonline

Ranson Financial2024-02-07T07:11:48-06:00February 7, 2024|News|