By Dr. Ferrell Miller
JC Breakfast Optimist Club
JC Breakfast Optimist Club members met in Jim Clark’s Chevrolet showroom on September 25 to hear about the work being done by Ardena Carlyon, USD 475 Geary County Schools Manager of Finance.
Ardena shared that she was three years old when she moved here. While she was growing up here Ardena attended Sheridan, Junction City Junior High and Junction City High School. She worked at Dillon’s during her high school years. Ardena has been married to John Carlyon for 40 years and they have three children. The Carlyon’s own and operate an underground utilities company.
While her children were of school age, Ardena got involved in the PTA at Westwood and Sheridan Elementary; became the Grandview Plaza Elementary School Secretary; worked on mail-in enrollment with Charles Volland at the district’s central office; worked in Human Resources with Sarah Talley and Retta Kramer and found her passion working with numbers by working part time in HR and in Finance. In 2013, Ardena became the member of the Finance Department and became the Manager of Finance in 2022.
She stated “There are lots of regulations and rules in dealing with federal money, which passes through our district. There are three audits each year. One audit is with the Kansas Department of Education, another for Special Education funding and a district financial audit.
One of the busiest times comes from September 20 and after February 20. That is when we have a first and second count of students, which helps decide funding for the district and we are working on Impact Aid Heavy Impact. Students who are military dependents help us qualify for additional funding for the district. This money can then be used for new construction but should not be used for maintenance or teacher’s salaries for example as those are reoccurring costs. This money helped us build the new Junction City High School with having no to increase taxes on the local taxpayers.” Ardena also told club members that it is important to her “to find ways to get the money to do what is best for students to be able to learn and be positive contributors to our community”.
She also said that “2.3 million federal dollars comes to the district for Title I, II and IV. Twenty-two million dollars also comes to the district from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Sixty-nine percent of the USD 475 budget comes from federal money, 28% from State aid and 3% from local taxes.
We look for funding that is a good fit for what we want to do to help kids. There is often talk about cutting taxes, but utilities, salaries and other bills still must paid” even with all the federal dollars that come into our district.