• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:Paul Soutar
June 8, 2009
(316) 634-0218
$29 cut marks end of school spending rise
After increasing 74 percent over the last 10 years, per pupil funding for Kansas K-12 education will likely face more reductions as the local economy slows and federal stimulus dollars run out over the next two years.
Just to set the record straight, the reduction in kindergarten to 12th-grade education fundingwe’ve been hearing about for the 2009-2010 school year is only $29 per pupil after addingstate, local, regular federal and federal stimulus dollars according to the Kansas Department ofEducation.Most public discussion has focused on the cut to the base state aid per pupil, from $4,400 in2009 to $4,280 for 2010. But that’s just the base aid. Schools get additional state money for anumber of reasons including aid for poor students, special needs students, districts that are toosmall and districts that are too big. All sources of state aid for 2010 totals $6,677 per student.Add state funding to federal and local education dollars and Kansas is planning to spend$12,525 per student next school year, down just $29 from $12,554 in 2009. By comparison,private school tuition at Wichita Collegiate averages $11,776 for the 2009-1010 school year;Wichita Independent’s average tuition is $8,100.In 2008 lawmakers approved an additional $59 per pupil increase for K-12 education in 2010.A further 3.7 percent inflation adjustment planned by the legislature was intended to provide atotal of $4,597 BSAPP. That increase won’t happen because legislators had no idea of thefiscal realities they would face in 2010.An infusion of Federal stimulus money will replace much of the lost state education funding butonly delay challenging school finance decisions.
More trouble ahead
Kansas typically lags behind national economic trends so further cuts will almost certainly beneeded if Kansas’ economy follows the national trend. Economic growth continued in Kansasin 2008 according to a June 2 report by the Commerce Department but at a slower pace in2008. Kansas’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 2.2 percent in 2008, down from 3.1percent in 2007 and 3.5 percent in 2006.
I
NVESTIGATIVE
R 
EPORT
 
 
As more businesses announce layoffs and the economy worsens in Kansas, the gap betweenactual revenues and spending hopes will likely force further cuts for K-12 education, whichconsumes more than half of state revenues.Revenue shortfalls caused mid-year cuts in 2009 spending and a forced a big cut in total statespending for 2010. The Legislature directed American Reinvestment and Recovery Act fundsto make up for much of the shortfall in state K-12 spending rather than allow school districts totake an equal share of state spending cuts. State revenues missed the mark again in May afterlegislators settled school funding for 2010.A 2009 House budget committee report warned of trouble ahead. “While the (stimulus) fundingprovides immediate budgetary relief to the state in FY 2009, FY 2010, and FY 2011, it alsoallows expenditures to grow for three years. After that period of time, federal stimulus will becut off, without additional federal dollars in place to offset State General Fund financedexpenditures. If no revenue growth is available to keep up with the additional expendituregrowth, the fiscal situation that the state is currently experiencing may be even more difficultthan it is today.”The report goes on to warn that a short-term fix may only allow a long-term problem to worsen.
Possible lawsuit
Some education supporters say schools are still underfunded and that recent cuts violate aKansas Supreme Court decision ordering increased funding. Newton School SuperintendentJohn Morton recently suggested it was time to sue the state again to compel further increasesin school funding.Morton is a member of Schools for Fair Funding, which brought the Montoy vs. State andRobinson vs. State lawsuits. The state is now spending about a billion dollars more on K-12education than before the lawsuits. Over the past ten years statewide enrollment has remainedflat at about 448,000 studentsJohn Robb, counsel for Schools for Fair Funding, doesn’t expect a decision on a new lawsuituntil well into the fall. He says a suit would have an excellent chance of succeeding becausethe increased funding ordered by the courts and promised by the legislature was curtailed thisyear.Kansas Representative Jason Watkins, Wichita, says further cuts to school funding must beconsidered. “Buying into the argument that schools can’t be cut is ridiculous. They may haveincreasing standards but so do other segments of the government.”Watkins rejects the common refrain that if you’re not for carte-blanche school spendingincreases, you’re against kids. “At some point the public is going to reject that.”Walt Chappel, a member of the Kansas Board of Education representing Wichita, says he’strying to look at school funding as a businessman and educator.“How can we possibly say to anyone we should raise taxes and get more revenue whenschools are already receiving 51% of the budget and we don’t have any evidence thatincreased funding has anything to do with increased achievement? How much money is
 
enough?”Even after the planned reductions for the coming school year, per pupil state aid will be 42percent higher than it was 10 years ago.Watkins says he thinks another lawsuit would fail. “I’m not so sure they’re going to have thesame outcome this time from the Supreme Court. I think the court overstepped their bounds.”Public sentiment will be different in the midst of a recession, says Watkins. “I almost guaranteethey’ll get a different perspective from the public. Montoy happened at a time when peopleweren’t as worried about their jobs and their own budgets.”Watkins isn’t so sure about the legislature’s willingness to stand up to the education lobby. “I’mafraid as powerful as the school lobby is I don’t think there’s the will within the current makeupof the Kansas legislature to cut school budgets. The only way that’s not going to be the case isif the voters go to the polls informed.”“State government needs to be like any household or business. You don’t just have a blankcheck called the taxpayers wallet,” Watkins said.There seems to be agreement that Kansas doesn’t have the money to satisfy school fundingrequests. The question is whether the legislature will deal with it by increasing taxes, furthercutting other state services or by standing up to the education lobby and forcing schools todeal with the economic realities that face all other Kansans.
 # # #
Paul Soutar is an Investigative Reporter with the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy. A complete bio on Mr. Soutar can be found at  http://www.flinthills.org/content/view/6/5/ ,and he can be reached at  paul.soutar@flinthills.org .To  learn more about the Flint Hills Center, please visit  www.flinthills.org .  The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy is an independent Kansas-based think tank that provides research and initiates reform in education, fiscal policy and health care. We are dedicated to the constitutional principles of limited government, open markets, and personal responsibility, which we believe are essential for individual freedom and prosperity to flourish.
 
250 N. Water, Suite #216 Wichita, Kansas 67202-1215 (316) 634-0218information@flinthills.org www.flinthills.org 
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...