Lawrence school board members on Monday will consider setting the maximum property tax rate for their upcoming budget, and they’ll hear an update on artificial intelligence.
The proposed budget for 2026-27 includes a mill levy, or property tax rate, of 52.204, according to a presentation during the board during the Aug. 10 meeting.
That is a slight decrease from the 2025-26 mill levy of 52.345, but most property owners will still see tax increases because of increases in assessed valuations. Home valuations have increased 5% on average countywide.
The median sale price of a home in Lawrence over the past two years was $325,000, according to a recently completed housing study. The owner of a home valued at $325,000 would owe the school district about $1,951 in property taxes under the proposed budget.
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Property owners also pay taxes to the county, city and state. In Lawrence, property taxes break down to about 41% to Lawrence Public Schools, 32% to the county, 26% to the city and 1% to the state.
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School board members will consider approving the maximum mill levy for publication. After that point, they can decrease spending to be less than that maximum amount, but they cannot increase their spending authority.
The board is planning to hold public hearings on the budget, as required by state law, during their Monday, Sept. 14 meeting.
No attachments were included in the agenda as of Saturday afternoon.
However, Cynde Frick, director of finance for the district, gave the board an introductory presentation on the budget during the Aug. 10 meeting. See the video at this link, and the budget report that was added to the agenda during that meeting is below.
20260810-School-district-budget-compressedBoard members will also hear an update an artificial intelligence from Superintendent Jeanice Swift and James Polk, senior director of data, assessment and information technology, according to the agenda.
Further information about the AI report was not available in the agenda as of Saturday afternoon.
However, the district last year assembled an AI committee of parents, district staff members, community members and a couple of students. Read about their discussions from a meeting in May in this article.
Board members will also consider giving final approval to a policy changing how district staff members can use social media for official district purposes. Staff will only be allowed to use district-approved platforms for two-way communications with students or parents.
The policy, intended to bring the district into compliance with a new state law, states that “No employee of the district shall privately or directly communicate with any student through a social media platform, except as expressly permitted under this policy. This prohibition applies regardless of whether communication occurs during or outside the school day.”
Read more about the policy in this article.
Meeting info
No general public comment period is listed on the meeting agenda. This meeting will be the 17th in a row without general public comment on the agenda.
The board hasn’t heard public comment since Nov. 17. Bob Byers, selected as board president for the 2026-27 school year, said during the July 13 meeting that he would like to revisit possibly bringing public comment back to the agendas; however, that has not yet happened.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. Meetings are open to the public, livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@USD497, and broadcast on Midco channel 26.
See the full meeting agenda at this link. See ways to contact the school board at lawrencekstimes.com/contact-usd497bd.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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