Superintendent Shawn Poyser announced at Monday’s regular meeting that the proposed mill levy is 61.981 for 2026-27. That’s up from 60.955 for 2025-26.

The proposed budget is being published twice in The Mirror per state statute. The first publishing is in today’s edition on Page 6A. A public hearing will take place at 6:10 p.m. Sept. 14 during the September school board meeting at the USD 464 Administrative Center. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. that day. The proposed budget and other detailed budget information is available on the district website, tong464.org and at the district office in the Administrative Center.

HVAC project ready to go at TES

Maintenance director Mitch Loomis said the HVAC project at Tonganoxie Elementary School is finished.

The $5.2 million overhaul took place throughout the summer.

He commended teachers for their work in the quick turnaround, as they were able to get back into their rooms this past Thursday to prepare for the new year, which started Tuesday with portions of the student body beginning the year with a half-day. The first full day of school is today in Tonganoxie.

“For the most part it went off without a hitch,” Loomis said about the project.

SPED director give update heading into 2026-27 year

Chris Cullnan with the Tonganoxie Basehor-Linwood Special Education Cooperative gave a presentation to the school board about special education goals for the 2026-27 school year

The cooperative has three new teachers in Tonganoxie, an EC teacher and IR teacher at Tonganoxie Elementary School and a CBR teacher at Tonganoxie High School.

Cullnan discussed 2026-27 goals for paraprofessional development and certified staff paraprofessional development.

There will be six monthly para educator emails that will include a short video and one-page resource guide. Those items will be provided to administrators and special education teachers before they to the paraprofessionals. The emails are designed for paraprofessional learning and to facilitate additional collaboration between teachers and paras on those topics. There also is beginning of year training and there will be monthly special education teacher paraprofessional collaboration. Cullnan said it would be building driven, but TBLSEC will provide resources to assist in making the most of that collaboration time.

The focus for certified staff professional development will be independence at TES, study skills classes at Tonganoxie Middle School and monthly meetings in buildings. The mini-professional development sessions will shift from compliance to collaboration on big picture IEP process. Additionally, the development will focus on center-based programs with vertical planning and collaboration with grades K-12.

State funding also was discussed during the presentation. Superintendent Shawn Poyser discussed a conversation Cullnan had during a recent meetings with state administrators. Cullnan noted that if the state fully funded districts as of now, that would be $3 million for the Basehor-Linwood district and $2 million for the Tonganoxie school district.

“That would be a game-changer,” Poyser said.

Board Member Ryan Brune asked what the board can do to improve the situation and Cullnan mentioned continued dialogue with local legislators and representatives.

Personnel recommendations approved

The board approved work agreements and resignations at Monday’s meeting.

Work agreements were approved for Kaylee Shaw, assistant boys soccer coach; Amber Bruhnke, early childhood para; Ginny Reischman, Tonganoxie High School head volleyball coach; and Joseph Hernandez, THS assistant volleyball coach.

Resignations were approved for Jamie Theno, Tonganoxie Elementary School nurse’s aide; Dana McVey, early childhood para; Glenn Courtwright, transportation; and Cherry Mastro, student nutrition.