By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A lot of complaints about rising taxes are made via social, but few members of the community voice their concerns in front of the elected officials in charge of those budgets. Just one member of the public voiced his concern about the USD 428 Great Bend budget during Monday's meeting. Shawn Pokorski said schools should be more about developing intellectual capabilities than athletic abilities. Cutting sports programs could be a way to save money.
"I remember when all sports programs were paid for by the parents, with the exception of the district bus," he said. "If you wanted, you could play football, basketball, or soccer. You took the kid there, you paid the athletic fees. It was all done by the parents. Now, for some reason, in the last 30 years, we focus more on sports than on academics. It's not to the benefit of our society."
The board approved the 2026 budget as presented. With a mandatory 20 mills levied in the general fund, virtually all school districts in Kansas will exceed the revenue-neutral rate this year. The Great Bend district will raise an additional $146,000 via the general fund. In total, the district will generate approximately $45,000 more than it did last year. Assistant Superintendent John Popp reiterated that running a school district is not a cheap endeavor.
"We have a lot of roofs, HVAC, and some pretty significant needs that we really need to update these buildings," he said. "We don't want to get into a situation where we have to ask for a bond or things like that in the future to do deferred maintenance on roofs because the roofs are leaking."
Later in the meeting, Popp outlined some of the projects planned later this year with a price tag of approximately $775,000. The entire Great Bend High School roof needs replaced, but there is time to repair just sections, including the GBHS gymnasium. Part of the Park Elementary roof was replaced after the July 2023 storm. To replace the remainder of the roof, some of which is in dire need of repair, will cost approximately $460,000. A small portion of roof between the Panther Athletic Center and Fieldhouse needs to be replaced at a cost of approximately $25,000.