Our review of school districts’ budgets for the current school year revealed some very interesting information. Seventy-seven districts are planning double-digit spending increases on Administration. The unweighted average increase on Instruction is 10 percent. We also found that 122 districts plan a larger increase on Administration spending than on Instruction.
You can download an Excel file here listing total budgeted per-pupil spending by district and actual total spending for the previous two years. The file also shows the percentage change budgeted for Total, Instruction and Administration spending.
Here is a sampling of district budgets, taken from their Budget at a Glance reports. Note that each of plaintiff districts (Wichita, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Kansas City) in the school funding lawsuit is budgeting a double-digit increase in Administration.
