KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including neighborhoods in Overland Park, Shawnee and Mission. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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The Shawnee Mission School District created its first-ever task force in June.
In the past few months, the SMSD Donations Task Force primarily focused on whether current community donation practices are equitable.
The district is unique in that parents are able to fund some staff positions.
In fact, they are the only district in Johnson County, according to the school board, and possibly the only district in the state, to allow it.
There has been concern about whether kids attending schools in wealthier communities have an unfair advantage with the private funding.
According to the task force's report, schools with the most students on free or reduced lunch saw a small percentage of the donations.
Community funded positions accounted for 60% of donations in the 2023-24 school year, with 97% of these positions funded at schools with less than 20% of students on free/reduced lunch.
Jennifer Burns, a Shawnee Mission East graduate and mother of 10, said they currently have a part-time reading aide at Brookwood Elementary funded by the community.
"I think years ago when it first started, we were like, 'Oh, raising money to pay for the Spanish teacher?'" Burns said.
The community funded positions are usually interventionists and aides.
Burns knows the difference it can make to have that support in schools.
The donations task force wants a transition away from current practices to be considered.
Burns disagrees with any ideas of it being discontinued.
"I don't think any of my kids have used that resource, maybe one of them in the past, but I want that help for the other kids," she said. "I think that's where we should be one community for Shawnee Mission."
At Monday's school board meeting, this was the center of a lengthy discussion with differing view points from school board members.
The board's president put the school's financial history into perspective.
"Community funded positions aren't frivolous, but rather back-filling critical support for struggling students," said Mary Sinclair, SMSD board president, "Aides, interventionists, the state doesn't provide — we're talking about schools that don't meet that threshold. Why would we want to deny educational support for struggling students just because not enough of their classmates qualify for free and reduced lunch?"
Sinclair was referencing data the task force provided.
According to the task force's presentation, in the past few years, the east feeder pattern received $2,153,593.
The north feeder received a total of $250,312; northwest received $194,919; South received $149,169, and West received $110,388.
"I did reach out to a couple of people benefiting from a community funded positions, one of which was a teacher who said it feels 'yucky that she has this position when she knows other schools don't have a similar opportunity,'" said Jamie Borgman, SMSD board member.
Sinclair mentioned a lack of state funding that connects all of this.
Funding is just catching back up, due to court battles spanning several years over significant cuts.
According to the board president, they've dealt with financial chaos from the district's budget being cut by $30 million in 2009.
"Districts across Kansas didn't know whether they'd be opening their doors just weeks before the first day of school," Sinclair said.
Burns has seen all of her kids get opportunity in the school district and she wants that for other kids too.
"That's where we can come together," she said.
The community funding all connects back to how the state has historically funded public education in Kansas.
Parent wonder if they'll have to keep filling in the gaps.
"I worry that trying to stop it would be a short-sighted based on the future of voting and legislation in the state, what if they cut the money again?" Burns said.
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