NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The official application for the Hutchinson USD 308 bond issue is in to the state.
"After you turn in the application, then you have an interview process," USD 308 Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson told the USD 308 Board of Education on Monday. "It is nice that they're making all of those virtual now, so you don't have to drive all the way to Topeka and have a 20-minute meeting to drive all the way back, so those will be virtual."
Johnson will be meeting with a four-person committee who will go over the 200 page packet the district sent in to the state.
"Mostly in that 20 minutes, they're going to hear a brief description of the project, why it's needed, the cost, the mill rate," Johnson said. "What was the process determined? How did you involve the community in that? Was the board unanimous in their support of this? Who will lead the effort in the community? Any extracurricular projects? So they'll be kind of just looking at that, just trying to get an overview of that."
There is a statewide bond cap. A lot of districts are looking for bond issues this year, so it isn't clear who will get them and who won't at this point.
"In that state statute, they talk about four criteria that they want to evaluate as to who gets access to the bond cap and who doesn't," Johnson said. "If you don't have any state aid whatsoever, it doesn't matter. We do have state aid, 17%. So if you don't have state aid, then you don't go against the bond cap, but some of the things that they're looking about to prioritize who gets into the bond cap is unsafe buildings, this is in the statute. Are buildings unsafe, are kids there a potential harm? Is there student growth, like you're just not going to have room if you don't make this project happen? Or some instructional focus and then energy efficiency. So those are the kind of things that are in the statute."
If all else is equal, then it's first come, first served. The State Board of Education meeting where the official word will come down one way or the other is in mid-January. If approved, the election would be April 1.