McPHERSON, Kan. — The McPherson USD 418 Board of Education accepted a proposal at Monday’s meeting regarding school fees for the 2025-26 school year. USD 418 waived those fees for the 2024-25 school year. Superintendent Shiloh Vincent presented three options for fees and gave a staff recommendation to set these fees at $100 for elementary students, and 140 dollars for middle and high school students, to which a $20 technology fee will be added.
Vincent told the Board they want to be in a position where they are “putting people in a position to be able to have reasonable student fees, in addition to having the ability to make sure we’re not in the position of having a tremendous shortfall.” Those fees are what funds textbook purchases and curriculum adoptions for the district.
These fees would be reviewed annually, and the options presented assumed an annual increase in those fees, ten dollars in this case. Specific course fees for classes at the middle and high schools would continue. The vote to accept was 5-1, with final action to be taken at the March board meeting.
The Board of Education accepter, with one modification, recommendations to add proposed classes and academic interventions at McPherson high School. Being added to the MHS curriculum is a small animal care class, an officiating class, and offering a government class as dual credit with Hutchinson Community College. The Academic Interventions initiative, which would provide a required multi-tiered framework to address gaps students have in academics, was backed by 3/4th of the members of the McPherson Curriculum Council, but there were concerns expressed about whether making a this a full class would be the best option for these students. The Board gave final approval to addition of an officiating class at McPherson High School.
The Board reviewed the current status of strategic planning work that has been in progress since October. Last month the district held two community focus group meetings, during which district data was reviewed along with strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and theme areas were identified. The board will be having a work session Feb. 24 to review goal focus areas, reflect on community input and finalize action steps, which the Board will take action on in the spring. The Board also approved the Regional Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, which involves multiple entities in the south central Kansas region. This plan has already received tentative approval from the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and FEMA. It also adopted a resolution setting election of board officers for the July meeting and approved the McPherson Curriculum Council handbook.
A number of donations were accepted by the board, including two donations totaling $2,500 from the Tulsa Community Foundation on behalf of Williams Companies in support of Career and Technical Education programs at McPherson High School. Also accepted was a $500 gift from Countryside Covenant Church to address student needs, and two gifts totaling $2,582.57 from Pfizer for the McPherson-Marion County Head Start program to provide resources for families in need.
