Great Bend USD 428 will save more than $36,000 next year by purchasing its property and casualty insurance from the Kansas Educational Risk Management Pool (KERMP), Superintendent Khris Thexton said.
The school board held a special meeting Tuesday morning to approve the policy and make budget transfers and expenditures to wrap up Fiscal Year 2020-2021, when ends today.
Only Kansas Association of School Boards members may join KERMP, which was started several years ago by 15 schools. The member-owned consortium is comprised of public K-12 school districts in Kansas, and last week Barton Community College became the first Kansas community college to join. Barton was attracted by lower rates and better deductibles overall.
“I like it because it is for schools, by schools,” Thexton told the board. “It’s definitely a benefit for us to be a part of it.”
The district has been insured by EMC/Insurance Planning for several years. Last year’s premium was $233,617 and a renewal this year would have cost $238,927. The KERMP premium is $202,416. The deductible for wind and hail damage will drop from $25,000 to $10,000.
Budget transfers and expenditures
The board approved these pre-paid expenses for the 2021-2022 school year, including the $202,416 for property and liability insurance:
• KASB workers comp insurance - $99,886
• Paper - $17,544
• Student accident insurance - $44,375
The board also approved the following transfers with the adoption of the 2020-2021 budget:
General Fund
• Special Education - $2,530,291
• At-Risk - $2,000,000
• Bilingual Education - $500,000
• Vocational Education - $450,000
• At-Risk (4-year-olds) - $137,070
• Parent Education Program - $40,000
• Textbook - $250,000
Supplemental General Fund
• Bilingual - $200,000
• Special Education - $700,000
• Professional Development - $50,000
• Vocational Education - $250,000
• At-Risk - $1,957,775
Thexton said the district will adopt a new math curriculum next year, which is why money will be transferred to the textbook fund. In answer to a question from school board member Don Williams, Thexton added, “We did not transfer anything into capital outlay.”
New transfers to complete the 2020-2021 budget
The proposed transfers will restore money spent during the year to special funds. This practice keeps cash reserves stable in special funds to help the district through difficult financial times, Thexton reported.
As the district closes the books on the 2020-2021 budget year, the rough estimate balances are $350,000 for the general fund and $1.4 million for the supplement general fund. The proposed transfers of those balances are:
General Fund
• Bilingual - $160,000
• Professional Development - $178,000
• Driver’s Education $12,000
Supplemental General Fund
• K-12 At-Risk - $950,000
• Textbook - $50,000
• Special Education - $150,000
• Vocational Education - $250,000
Personnel
The school board also approved the appointment of Jessica Perez as a third-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School and the resignation of Karen Maier, an instructional coach at Great Bend High School.
