The 2025 edition of KPI’s annual Public Education Fact Book is now available. As in previous editions, the 2025 version is an invaluable resource for a plethora of public education data on student achievement, K-12 spending, enrollment, employment and more. The information provided is on multiple levels – statewide, districtwide, and nationwide – and for multiple years, some data goes back for decades.
For example, the 2025 Fact Book shows that total K-12 spending for the 2023-24 school year totaled set a new high at nearly $8.5 billion, with per-pupil expenditures at $18,324, also a new record. Per-pupil increased nearly $700 from the prior year.
Simultaneously, Kansas student achievement continues to be grim. New results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), show Kansas 4th and 8th graders once again scored below the national average. Huge income-based achievement gaps persist. Less than 12% of low-income Kansas 8th graders are proficient in math.
It’s now smoothed out but worth noting that the NAEP schedule changed, as did the state assessment timeline, through the (unnecessary) school closures of spring 2020.
The Fact Book also presents data that shows other states – states with more school choice – like Indiana, Florida, and now Utah, spend much less per pupil and have better NAEP scores.
Kansas students also continue to do poorly on state assessments. In the spring of 2024, out of all students tested, only one in five low-income students scored proficient (college/career ready) in math and reading. And less than half of not-low-income students were proficient. The scores were even worse for just 10th graders (the only high school grade tested). One in ten low-income high schoolers tested proficient in math. Only a slightly higher percentage tested higher in reading (16.4%). And only about one-third of not-low-income students were college/career ready in the two subjects.
Another interesting phenomenon found in the Fact Book has to do with student enrollment and school employment. For the past two decades, the percentage increase in the number of teachers has risen only slightly more than enrollment. However, the percentage increase in management staff has outpaced the growth in teaching positions more than fivefold. A few more students, a few more teachers, a LOT more administrators. (See Tables 18 and 19 for exact numbers.)
Districts often complain of being strapped for cash. However, the data says otherwise. As of July1, 2024, the combined operating cash balance of districts statewide was just north of $1.3 BILLION, smashing the previous year’s record cash on hand by $70 million. That’s more than $2,850 per pupil.
Please note that all data comes from official sources. Most is sourced from KSDE, but data is also gleaned from the governor’s office, federal sources, and proprietary results obtained from ACT.
Public education has increasingly come under fire in recent years. From curriculum to parental rights to social issues to spending, and more recently the dismal nationwide NAEP scores, the information shared in KPI’s Fact Book provides plenty justification for that concern.
View the 2025 K-12 Fact Book Here
Both digital and printed versions of the current Fact Book are available. The digital form can be accessed by following the above link. A printed edition is available upon request by email: [email protected]. It is a great research tool to have at your disposal and is easy to carry. And despite sounding as if it would be very bulky, it’s actually only about the size of your phone.
