Education Archives - Kansas Policy Institute

School funding sets new record at $13,620 per-pupil 0
- Education
- September 21, 2018
School funding set another new record in Kansas last year, averaging $13,620 per-pupil. Data just released by the Kansas Department of Education (KSDE) also shows a new State Aid record was set $9,086 per-pupil. Total funding hit $6.5 billion, which was about a $400 million increase over the previous year. These new records come from
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School cash reserves set new record at $952 million 0
- Education
- September 18, 2018
Despite claims of being horribly underfunded, Kansas school cash reserves set another new record of $952 million this year. And that’s just their operating funds; districts also set new records for capital outlay reserves ($528 million) and debt service reserves ($581 million). Total carryover cash reserves, including record-setting federal cash balances of $48 million, hit
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Tallman report wrongly compares school superintendents to “other” Kansas CEOs 0
- Education
- September 15, 2018
Kansas Association of School Boards blogger Mark Tallman has published a series of reports on school administrators and their pay. The first installment compares school superintendents salaries to those of “other” Kansas CEOs. Not surprisingly, Tallman claims that “on average, Kansas school superintendents earn less than other chief executives in Kansas.” That claim is problematic
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Universities use tuition to pad bank balances 0
- Education
- September 4, 2018
Parents and students having to pay higher tuition and fees at Kansas universities might be surprised to know that $18 million of what they paid last year was used to pad university bank balances. That’s the collective net increase in General Fee Fund cash reserves reported in response to Open Records requests submitted by Kansas
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Kansas is Top Ten in the wrong education categories 0
- Education
- August 24, 2018
The Kansas Association of School Boards falsely claims Kansas is in the top ten for student achievement, but Kansas does have some top ten rankings – and they’re in all the wrong categories. Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2016 school year shows: –Kansas has the 2nd highest growth rate in cash
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Payroll jumps in Shawnee Mission but not for teachers 0
- Education
- August 22, 2018
USD 512 Shawnee Mission reports a $5.6 million payroll increase for the 2018 school year, of which a measly $467,000 was spent on teachers. Put differently, total payroll for positions identified as teachers increased by less than half of a percent but all other pay jumped 8.1 percent. The data comes from the district’s response
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