Author Spotlight
Matt Hanson
Shawnee Mission School District’s new superintendent has only one thing on his agenda: to wait, observe and listen until he feels comfortable setting a specific agenda for his new job.
“I have an agenda and my agenda is engaging the community in this process of me asking questions and listening to them,” Dr. Jim Hinson said. “They’re helping me guide this school district.”
Dr. Hinson, who will replace retiring superintendent Dr. Gene Johnson, will make an effort to engage constituents, employees and other members of the SMSD community to help him get an understanding of his new district and the problems it faces. He has already been made aware of some key issues.
“I’ve heard a lot of different things from folks already,” Dr. Hinson said. “Certainly we’re going to have to address school finance and what’s going on with the budget. I’m aware in parts of the school district there are some changes in demographics and that’s something that we need to look into.”
Dr. Hinson’s first area of concern has plagued the district and most public school districts in the state for several years. Declining enrollment and state debt have forced SMSD to make extensive budget cuts in the past three years, cutting more than $28 million and 356.5 full-time equivalent positions (FTE) from the district.
The cuts could get worse. According to East teacher and National Education Association Executive Board representative Linda Sieck, the financial future of Kansas schools is still uncertain while the state budget is still being debated.
“School finance will be huge,” Sieck said. “I can’t say for sure that schools are safe [from budget cuts] until the new budget passes.”
Dr. Hinson has dealt with difficult fiscal times in education before. In his time as superintendent in Independence, he ushered his district from similar financial struggles to fiscal stability.
“I had the opportunity to go through a school budget where I’ve had to make significant cuts in expenditures and look for ways to generate revenue,” Dr. Hinson said. “I’ve unfortunately had to make some very difficult decisions in the past to right the ship if you will financially for a school district, so I know how that process works.”
While Dr. Hinson didn’t give a specific course of action for tackling SMSD’s fiscal problems, he does have a general idea of where to start. For now, his first actions will involve analysis and investigation.
“I’m assuming that the SMSD is efficient now but I’m gonna be looking at them very carefully to make sure that we’re spending every penny that we have efficiently,” he said. “At the same time, looking into tapping different revenue streams is a possibility. And then ultimately, you have to look into the state of funding in Kansas and see how much that impacts what’s going on in the Shawnee Mission School District.”
Dr. Hinson will also have to face changing demographics in his new district, specifically, declining enrollment. Since 2008, the district has lost 529 high school students. That may not sound like much, but to building administrators like East associate principal John McKinney, that’s cause enough for concern.
“The biggest concern in the district right now… it’s enrollment,” McKinney said. “Enrollment equals jobs. We’ve got to sell the district.”
But Dr. Hinson insists that he has no set agenda to address these problems yet. His only objective is to listen and learn.
“I think it’s a leadership mistake for a young leader to come in and say ‘We’re gonna change a lot of things right away. These things are wrong,’” he said. “I think the right thing to do is to question and listen to anyone who wants to provide their input.”
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