SMSD Superintendent, Dr. Michael Schumacher, said the district will no longer be hiring new staff members in the upcoming year at a Board of Education meeting on March 23, 2026. 

Dr. Schumacher said this is primarily in response to budgetary issues from factors such as declining enrollment and increased costs of special education. 

“It was hard to do when we had 79 full time employees requested,” Dr. Schumacher said in the board meeting. “This is the first time from what I can remember that we had an action team recommendation we’re not able to honor.”

Of the 79 faculty requests, which would cost $6.5 million in additional spending, 34 were elementary counselors. These requests, which are mandated by a Kansas statute, were made through annual building needs assessments, submitted by building principals.

Dr. Schumacher said the highest needs came from Title 1 schools, which are located in lower socioeconomic areas. This year, the drop in enrollment was 250 students, equated to a $4 million budgetary loss, which came as a surprise, district officials said. 

“We asked our principals to speak with those families who weren’t returning,” Dr. Schumacher said. “They referenced two things, one being cost of living and two, immigration concerns.”

Dr. Schumacher said that within the district’s strategic plan, they have an action team, whose job centers around retention of families. Their goal is finding proactive ways of approaching recruitment. 

“It’s not something that many public schools think about,” Dr. Schumacher said. “We need to start.”

This year, the district transferred $25 million from their general budget to cover special education costs. The state of Kansas has not fulfilled it’s legal obligation to fully fund special education in over 14 years. 

“This is invisible for the public because the district is required to pay for all of SPED services as a federal and state requirement,” SMSD board member Jamie Borgman said.

Last fall, departments were asked to make cuts and 22 positions were reduced for Pre-K through 12 general education. No staff members were laid off, as this was mostly through retirements, according to Dr. Schumacher. 

Dr. Schumacher said that under any employment circumstances, they want to ensure each position can be sustained year-over-year. 

“I would be fearful if we added those positions and we couldn’t afford them in a year or two,” Dr Schumacher said. “That would be an awful thing for those schools.”

Despite these setbacks, Dr. Schumacher claims to remain “ridiculously positive.”

“I would be hopeful that we get a rebound of kids,” Dr. Schumacher said. “And that Kansas lawmakers come to their senses and follow their own law by providing us with special education funding. We need to hope for a better outcome and prepare for the bad outcome.”