Please take a moment to share this letter to the editor, which will be published in the Manhattan Mercury. It is written by Dr. Ed Olsen, retired economist from Kansas State University and former member of the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group:

Dear Editor:

Gubernatorial candidates Davis and Brownback have dueling claims about the current administration’s supports for K-12 education. I checked their arguments with budget data from the Kansas State Department of Education.

In order to judge the budget for education, one must first convert total expenditures to a per pupil basis and also adjust for inflation. If we compare the first Brownback budget to the most recent one, we find an increase in education spending of about 1.0%. This is far short of the Brownback boast, but not the decrease that Davis implies.

If we compare the most recent education budget to the last budget that was not impacted by the Great Recession—2008-09—we find a significant decrease in per pupil expenditure. Namely, minus 8.5%. If we do not accept increased contributions to the teachers’ retirement system (KPERS) as a legitimate boost to school district budgets, education spending has fallen 12.8% since 2008.

The scary part for education funding lies in the future. The additional reductions in the income tax planned by Brownback are almost certain to reduce education budgets. Kansas can find itself even further behind the 2008 level of support for our children’s education.

Ed Olsen, Manhattan, KS