Despite two years of notable declines in enrollment and thus funding, USD 253 Superintendent Dr. David McGehee is very confident he and his staff will get ahead of recent trends so long as they “do the work.”
Those comments followed a report from McGehee published Wednesday night following the USD 253 Board of Education meeting, which showed an enrollment decline of 250 students between 2024 and 2025. During an interview with KVOE News Thursday afternoon, Dr. McGehee stated that those numbers do not reflect only students within the district’s traditional school buildings.
He explains that 160 of those students are actually adult learners who were previously enrolled in nighttime adult courses through the Flint Hills Learning Center, a program that has been paused for the time being due to financial considerations.
The pause in programming is only for the evening adult courses, McGehee says that the decision has no effect on learning center programming for at-risk students. McGehee also says the numbers do not reflect the better than 200 early learning students enrolled at the Jones Early Childhood Education Center.
Despite these facts, however, the numbers will still have an impact on the state funding formula for the coming year and could result in a loss of roughly $1.4 million for the 2026-27 school year, according to McGehee. This would follow a roughly $1 million loss for the current year that resulted from an enrollment decrease of just over 170 students, calculated into the funding formula between 2023 and 2024.
When asked the cause for the recent decline, McGehee stated it is too soon to point to an exact cause; however, he has no doubt the closure of Tyson Foods is playing a role.
As for next steps, McGehee says there are several “Big conversations” ahead for him and his team as they explore avenues for both cost savings and revenue generation to help counteract the impacts of recent trends.
When asked if now was a time for “panic,” McGehee responded, saying he does not believe there is ever a time for panic, adding the district is only slightly behind the curve at this time. He’s confident if they can do the work he has proposed, they will “Catch up” to it in short order.
You can view the report from McGehee in the board docs tab on the district’s website, USD253.org.
