Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders have agreed to give five school districts roughly half a million dollars in additional funding.

The State Finance Council, which is comprised of the Republican governor and leaders from each chamber, voted Monday to give more money to districts hit hard by recent policy changes and unforeseen expenses.

Eight districts requested about $1.1 million from the $4 million extraordinary needs fund. The panel voted to partially fund five of those requests.

Superintendents testified that they had been squeezed due to enrollment changes, rising costs and Brownback’s “block grant” school funding law, which cut $51 million in funding districts expected for the current fiscal year.

The governor’s office denied in a statement that the block grant reform was to blame for shortfalls.

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Requests from the following school districts were approved:
• USD 438 Skyline, $118,000
• USD 416 Louisburg, $128,680
• USD 333 Concordia, $119,099
• USD 272 Waconda $57,237
• USD 243 Lebo-Waverly, $55,000

The following requests were not approved:
• USD 251 North Lyon County
• USD 470 Arkansas City
• USD 252 Southern Lyon County