Board accepts clean audit report with no material weaknesses

Auditors present data on mill levy and inflation gap

Winter reading data shows gap closing in early grades

Explanation offered for fifth grade reading score dip

High school student 'at-risk' numbers decline

Buffalo Jones Elementary presents 'wildly important goals'

Middle school career and technical education courses approved

Board approves $238,000 intercom upgrade for Horace Good Middle School

Board accepts clean audit report with no material weaknesses

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — The Garden City Board of Education accepted the district's annual financial audit report Monday, which returned a "clean" opinion with no findings. Lisa Axman of Lewis, Hooper & Dick LLC presented the report, noting that the district had no material weaknesses identified for the first time in five years. The audit revealed that the district ended the fiscal year with approximately $54 million in total funds, an increase of roughly $14 million that Axman attributed largely to intentional reserving of funds for capital outlay and bilingual education in anticipation of future funding shifts.

Auditors present data on mill levy and inflation gap

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — During the audit presentation, the board received data illustrating that state budget per pupil funding has not kept pace with inflation since the early 1990s. Auditors noted that if state aid had tracked with inflation, the district would receive an additional $2,189 per student for the 2025 fiscal year. Despite this gap, a comparative analysis of 15 similarly sized school districts showed that Garden City USD 457 maintains the fifth-lowest mill levy in the group at 51.071 mills, a statistic the board indicated would be used to address community concerns regarding tax rates.

Winter reading data shows gap closing in early grades

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — District Assessment Coordinator Michelle Baier presented winter FastBridge data indicating that the district is closing the reading gap between local students and the national average in kindergarten through second grade. Baier reported that the gap decreased by 1.5 points in first grade. The report credited the district's shift toward "structured literacy" and phonemic awareness for the improvements, noting that current first graders improved their phonemic awareness by nearly 20 percent compared to their performance as kindergartners last year.

Explanation offered for fifth grade reading score dip

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — During the data presentation, Baier addressed concerns regarding a visible drop in reading fluency scores among fifth grade students. She explained that the decline is largely attributed to a change in the testing format at the fifth grade level, which introduces more complex tasks such as matching synonyms, decoding and morphology. The board was told that this "dip" is a recurring trend due to the increased rigor of the test and that data shows students typically begin making gains again in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

High school student 'at-risk' numbers decline

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Data presented to the board showed improvement in high school reading metrics, specifically among students previously identified as "high risk." Because high school students who meet benchmarks are not required to retest, the winter data focused exclusively on students who were previously underperforming. The report showed that 56 students moved out of the high-risk category between fall and winter, with 11th graders seeing 25 additional students meet the benchmark.

Buffalo Jones Elementary presents 'wildly important goals'

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Principal Ben Luna and a team of student leaders from Buffalo Jones Elementary presented their building report, highlighting the school's focus on "Wildly Important Goals" related to literacy and math automaticity. The student council members detailed their school culture initiatives, including a "social contract" system, a student-run school store and the implementation of the "Capturing Kids' Hearts" curriculum. Luna reported that the school is on track to meet its academic goals based on recent winter assessment data.

Middle school career and technical education courses approved

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Board members approved a curriculum change that will introduce introductory Career and Technical Education courses at the middle school level starting in the 2026-27 school year. The initiative aims to push exploration courses down to eighth grade, allowing students to explore career pathways earlier. While these courses will not count for high school credit, administrators explained that early completion of introductory requirements would free up schedules for students to take more advanced courses once they reach high school.

Board approves $238,000 intercom upgrade for Horace Good Middle School

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — The board voted to approve the purchase of a new bell and intercom system for Horace Good Middle School at a cost of $238,434.16. Technology Director Casey Wise stated that the current system is failing and that the upgrade will move the school to an IP-based network, allowing for centralized management and future expansion into other security features. The district selected a lower-priced bid over a competing vendor, noting a price difference of approximately $60,000 between the two options.

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