Cost containment evaluation continues for USD 253 Emporia and is expected to take a “deeper dive” in early 2026.
That was according to USD 253 Superintendent Dr. David McGehee during an interview with KVOE News Wednesday night following the USD 253 Board of Education’s regular meeting. McGehee says the cost containment committee has begun reviewing initial containment ideas with expectations to begin “rating” and narrowing down the list of ideas come January.
McGehee says the rating process will hinge on three key factors: value, feasibility and stakeholder disruption.
When it comes to disruption, McGehee noted that difficult decisions will have to be made to help the district find the necessary savings. With that in mind, he says any decision that involves a major disruption will have to have an equally large value.
McGehee noted efforts could mean a reduction in resources or tools, but it could also lead to some changes in personnel; however, he and district leadership are hopeful those changes will happen naturally through attrition.
Some of the potential options described by McGehee Wednesday night mirrored decisions made by Emporia State University when it underwent its structural reorganization over three years ago. With this in mind, KVOE News asked McGehee if district patrons and stakeholders should be prepared for similar impacts, to which he stated he does not see any similarities between the two situations.
Cost containment efforts began shortly after a report from McGehee delivered in late August, where he noted that total enrollment had dipped from the September 2024 headcount of 4,050 students to 3,811, a drop of almost 240 students. The non-weighted full-time-equivalent student number, 4,019, is down from nearly 4,200 students last year — and that category is significant because it’s the one used to calculate state financial aid for the current academic year ending June 2026.
Enrollment dipped between 2024-25 and again between 2023-24, but enrollment has generally been declining since being over 4,800 in 2000. Interim Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Joshua Swartz has previously suggested that around $3 million in cost containment may be needed through the 2028-29 academic year, half of which could be realized during the 2026-27 academic year.
