OTTAWA – On Tuesday, Ottawa school Supt. Dean Katt knew the picture for state funding of public education and Ottawa schools looked pretty bleak. On Wednesday morning, it looked even worse, he said. He discussed the most recent shock during a presentation to the Franklin County Ccommission at their meeting Wednesday morning. Because state officials had switched education funds back and forth in previous years to plug money gaps and to avoid raising taxes, the federal government ordered the state to repay $25 million in federal special education funds or face catastrophic cuts in federal aid. Katt told commissioners that a legislative committee decided Tuesday night to dip into a fund used to make payments to the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System this year but will start deducting the money from next year’s payments to school districts. The Ottawa district already faces cuts in state funding for this year’s budgets, Katt said.
Thursday, Feb. 24, 10 a.m.
