This isn’t the first year lower rates have hurt school districts, including Tonganoxie’s. But it is by far the worst. Superintendent Richard Erickson estimates that during the current school year, the district will earn between $30,000 and $35,000 on all monies in school funds.

While that may sound like a lot, picture this:

During the 2000-2001 school year, the district earned $123,153 in interest on all school accounts. Ensuing years have seen continuous drops. The district earned $61,648 during the 2001-2002 school year, and $45,270 during the 2002-2003 school year.

What’s this mean? Erickson said the interest income is used to maintain the district’s facilities.

“We’re having to shift some costs over to the local option budget,” Erickson said.

The local option budget is a locally generated tax. It, along with higher enrollments, have helped. And Erickson said another factor that has helped make up for the shortfall brought by low interest rates is increases in assessed property valuation.

In 2000-2001, the district received $163,000 in property taxes, he said. The next year the amount climbed to $180,000, and the year after that, in the 2002-2003 school year, the district received $208,000 in property tax revenue.

“So each year it’s going up,” Erickson said. “But that doesn’t make up for the loss of almost $77,883 in interest money that we would have received during that three-year period of time.”