School board member supports increasing school funding

“So why wouldn’t we expect the world of public education to mirror this increasing complexity? In pre-K through higher ed, we’ve had to add new teaching and staff positions to accommodate these new and redefined disciplines. Ongoing professional development is also required to keep up with our changing understanding of the world and how students learn. And as education staff grow in number and expertise, one would also expect a small level of growth in administration to handle the associated increase in management responsibilities.

“However, a recent report (“Long-Term Growth in Instructional and Student Support Employees”) by the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) contradicts this assumption. While there has been an increase in the state’s number of teachers, paraprofessionals and other instructional/student support staff since 1998, there has actually been a decrease in the number of general administration positions (superintendents, clerical staff, etc.). As a state we seem to have done pretty well keeping administration costs low, but potentially so low that efficiency is negatively impacted.

“The evidence indicates we’re not top heavy with K-12 administration. And we likely still lack enough instructional/student support staff as evidenced by the sharing of staff from specials teachers to nurses among schools. Yet the block grant is already forcing districts to cut personnel, and such understaffing will lead to inefficiencies relative to equitable student outcomes per dollar input, making us less competitive as a state. Even accounting for inflation, the cost to educate our students has grown because that’s what it takes to efficiently prepare our students for the world of today, so they may take us to the world of tomorrow.”

— Marcel Harmon has an interdisciplinary background in anthropology and engineering, works for a high performance building consulting firm and is a current Lawrence school board member.

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