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Be wary of people talking about increases in school funding under the block grants and help your friends understand the reality of school funding now. This article about the Lawrence school district budget is one example of how comparisons between last year and this year are problematic. “The publication includes a side-by-side comparison with last year’s budget, but Johnson said the comparison — which indicates an approximately $20 million increase in total expenditures — is skewed by the inclusion of money that wasn’t previously moved through the general operating fund, such as state aid to the Kansas Retirement...

“‘The accounting is very misleading. … You can’t just look at the bottom-line number – or in this case the top-line number,’ board member Lynn Rogers said. “’We aren’t getting more money under block grants, on anyone’s estimation, if you look at it.’ “The district projects spending nearly $647 million next fiscal year – about $4 million more than last year, said chief financial officer Jim Freeman. “But because of increased fixed costs and ‘flow-through’ expenses, such as retirement payments to teachers, what looks like a budget increase is a decrease in money to classrooms, he said.” Read...

“But by shelving Kansas’ school funding formula and replacing it with block grants that freeze state aid levels for the next two years, lawmakers are actually throwing schools behind, said Mark Tallman, associate executive director for advocacy at the Kansas Association of School Boards. “This state is not keeping up with inflation, he said, and even if it did that much, it wouldn’t be enough. “’Not only do costs go up, but we also add to what we expect education to do,’ Tallman said. ‘We want reduced class sizes, full-day kindergarten instead of half-day, and new programs.’ “Communities...