The Blue Valley School District’s budget will be cut by $10 million after ongoing discussion and declining enrollment in the past two years. According to principal Leah Vomhof, this is about a 3.5% deficit.
She said schools are required to report their enrollment numbers to the state department of education each year. Funding for the district is then set based on the number of students.
“Statewide and nationwide, school budgets are declining because we don’t have as many students, which means we don’t have as much money coming in,” Vomhof said.
According to Blue Valley superintendent Gillian Chapman, the overall budget of the district is roughly calculated by multiplying $6,000 by the number of students enrolled, with additional funding for special education services, bilingual and at-risk services and district-provided transportation.
“We were surprised when school started and we got our enrollment count, and we were down 173 students. That’s the equivalent of a little more than a million dollars,” Chapman said.
According to Chapman, Blue Valley currently spends $18 million annually to cover the cost of special education. The state is required to fund 92% of that cost, but currently Blue Valley receives 52% from the state.
Vomhof said this makes it harder for the school district to make up the difference in budget deficit they have.
“If the state fully pays for special education, then the school district can use the money that they have set aside to pay the gap to help make up the budget deficit that they have through the declining enrollment,” Vomhof said.
School districts in Kansas will be provided with $6 million across all schools in the state, however, Chapman said this is not enough to make an impact when considering that Blue Valley will receive a small percentage of the $6 million.
Gov. Laura Kelly signed the state’s budget, Kansas House Bill 2513, on April 8, which includes increases to special education funding that do not come close to meeting the state’s legal obligation.
Chapman said special education enrollment numbers are increasing due to an availability of quality medical assistance in the Blue Valley area. While these enrollment numbers are increasing, the funding is decreasing, so additional special education staff may not be hired.
“What we’re doing is reorganizing and finding ways that we can support special education with the staffing that we have and the resources that we have in place, even though we might be getting an increase (in students),” Chapman said.
Special education teacher Cindy Campbell-Barnes said her caseload is increasing yearly, with more special education students coming to Northwest.
“If you keep piling more kids on, people get overwhelmed, and then they get burned out, and that’s not what you want either,” Barnes said.
She said some things that have helped are getting creative with splitting classes, or having special education teachers specialize in different subjects.
“We’re sharing a lot of those duties, so it doesn’t feel as overwhelming, and we’re not trying to do everything all by ourselves,” Barnes said.
Chapman said many vacant positions will not be filled when staff members resign or retire. In addition to limiting staff hired, the district is considering reducing expenses in activities and academics. Examples include reducing coaches, removing fifth grade orchestra and classes and programs with low enrollment.
While these changes are implemented, both Blue Valley Northwest and the district aim to not compromise the student experience. They hope to delay access or entry to these programs, such as fifth grade orchestra, rather than getting rid of them entirely. Chapman said these programs are what set Blue Valley apart, so the funding decrease will have an impact.
“I think that’s going to be really hard because things like fifth grade strings are what make Blue Valley so special,” Chapman said.
Senior Mel Zabet has played in orchestra in Blue Valley since elementary school. She said that the elementary school orchestra program is integral to the district because of the academic diversity it provides. She also said it taught her skills such as hard work, vulnerability, creativity and resilience, which she said would have been less impactful if learned later.
“If I hadn’t started at a young age, then it would have taken me longer to find all of those skills, [which] would have been on a much more superficial base,” Zabet said.
After mentoring fifth grade orchestra students, she also noticed that fifth graders benefited from both the community aspect of orchestra and the mentors they have through the program. Zabet said strings teacher Michael Arbucci played a vital role in her passion for orchestra because he was welcoming, open minded and a problem solver. She took a yearlong break from orchestra and decided to return in sixth grade because of the community and Arbucci’s guidance.
“I felt comfortable that even though the change I would be making is hard, I felt comfortable enough to do it in the academic environment,” Zabet said.
In addition to these programs being reduced, Chapman said families can expect to see an increase in fees to participate in athletics and activities. At the district board meeting on April 13, fees such as lunch, athletic passes, parking permits and bus transportation were approved to increase for the 2026-27 school year. Additionally, a new annual Accidental Device Protection (ADP) fee was approved to help offset the cost of students damaging or losing devices.
As schools in the district are currently open year-round, Chapman said they will be reducing the days that schools remain open.
“We’re basically going to close the middle school and the high school for certain periods so that we can change the utility settings, and then we’re not having to pay staff members to be present,” Chapman said.
According to Chapman, when schools are closed, temperatures can be raised and lights can be turned off, decreasing overall utility usage. She also said Blue Valley is the No. 1 user of utilities and electricity costs behind the University of Kansas and Kansas State University and the cost is $8 million per year on utilities.
To reduce the costs of utilities, Chapman and others at the district office are making changes such as unplugging appliances and turning off lights when rooms are vacant. She said that implementing these habits, such as turning off smart boards and lights in classrooms could save an estimated $800,000 annually.
In addition to these budget cuts, the phone ban passed leads to more challenges for the Blue Valley district. Gov. Laura Kelly signed Kansas House Bill 2299 on March 19. This bill prohibits students from using personal electronic communication devices during the school day, with certain exceptions.
The phone ban will require a storage facility for all personal electronic devices, which Blue Valley is estimating would cost anywhere from $3.5 million to $4 million.
“Instead of having a $10 million reduction we’re having, now, a $13.5 to $14 million reduction just to cover the cell phone ban,” Chapman said.
“We oppose, because we already have a cell phone ban, and it’s working really well at no cost to the district,” Chapman said.
Changes such as these are affected by decisions made by elected officials. Chapman advised all eligible voters to vote in the August midterm election.
“That is the most important thing that we can do, because the folks that are representing us in Topeka, they’re winning their elections during the midterms, because the voter turnout is low, so during the midterms, vote and vote every single time, because your vote does matter,” Chapman said.
For more updates, students and families can view the legislative section on the Blue Valley website.
