“Wichita schools would see about $4.8 million less this school year under the Republican-backed school finance bill unveiled this week than under the current school funding plan, according to the Kansas Department of Education…Mark Tallman, associate executive director of the Kansas Association of School Boards, explained the situation to school officials from around the state in a webinar Friday.

“’The budget you adopted based on current law … that formula is changed in the bill, so you will not get as much as you were expecting and it’s that reduced amount that is going forward,’ Tallman said…

“’It doesn’t keep pace by any stretch of the imagination,’ said Diane Gjerstad, government relations manager for the Wichita district.

“’A block grant is a formula,’ Gjerstad said, pushing back on the idea that the block grant would eliminate the complexity of school funding. ‘And this formula does not help districts keep pace with their changing demographics, does not keep pace with just basic cost increases.’

“Gjerstad noted that the bulk of the increase districts receive in the next two years would be in pension funds, which would not be flexible and could not go toward daily operating costs.”

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article12835088.html