by Stephanie Croston

    The roller coaster that is state aid to the Seward School District continues.
     After being down approximately $650,000 in the 2006-07 school year, the district is scheduled to receive $1,933,857 in 2007-08. It received $1,087,798 in 2006-07.
     Marilyn Smith, the Seward district's business manager, said the amount includes a $282,238 correction from the previous year. Part of that comes from the fact that the district had fewer students in the fall than it did in the spring.
     Smith said the district's cash reserves help offset the fluctuations in state aid, but there are a lot of unknowns in calculating how much the state will give the district.
     For example, the district is reimbursed a certain amount for each ward of the court attending Seward.
     The district always budgets conservatively on receipts, Smith said.
     Other school districts in the area aren't as drastically affected as Seward. Milford is scheduled to receive $1,927,463, up from $1,926,911 in 2006-07. Centennial's aid will drop from $3,901 to $161, while Malcolm will lose about $60,000, going from $1,290,496 in 2006-07 to $1,153,716 in 2007-08.