In the K-12 Student Success Commission meeting yesterday, Sen. Masterson of Andover and Rep. Lunn of Overland Park complained that funding was up but NAEP scores were down. Sen. Masterson claimed that K-12 instructional spending is up over inflation, but scores are down. Rep. Lunn said school funding has increased in recent years but scores are down and that he doesn’t see a correlation between spending and results, and he said it was hard for him to see how we’re not adequately funding K-12. (Thank you to Stephen Koranda, Jonathon Shorman, Scott Rothschild and Mark Tallman for tweeting the proceedings.)

Here are some things we wish Sen. Masterson and Rep. Lunn would acknowledge. (1) We have changed how we count some money. Moving KPERS and the 20 mills raised locally into “state spending” may look like an increase on paper, but it doesn’t mean funding actually went up. (2) Much of the increases have been in KPERS, bonds and interest and capital outlay, and have been driven by local projects voted on by local taxpayers. Post-Sandy Hook security concerns have also increased some construction costs. (3) We have more students. That will automatically raise funding needs. (4) The percentage of ELL students has doubled from 2004 to 2013, and the percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch has increased from 32% in 2000 to 50% in 2013. Those students cost more to educate. Those increases alone could account for a need for funding that exceeds inflation. (5) Schools by necessity have a lot of employees. Health insurance costs are rising faster than inflation, and schools are affected by that, as well as rising costs of other supplies and services they purchase. (6) What our students must be able to do upon graduation is increasing.

This is just a partial list. Our legislators cannot keep saying what amounts to, “This is a lot of money. It’s more than it was before, so it must be enough.” We need them to listen to our districts and patrons about what we need and why we need it. We also need constituents to be speaking to their legislators. We need funding to be based on what our current student population needs to be successful in 2015 and beyond, not what we can afford under a disastrous tax policy.

See also this report for more information on education funding: http://tallmankasb.blogspot.com/2015/07/why-are-school-districts-cutting.html?m=1