Contrary to media reports and claims by many local education officials, data provided by the Kansas Department of Education shows that state aid to Kansas school districts will increase this year with the new block grants. How can that be? Well, when government talks about a ‘budget cut,’ that most often means that the rate of increased spending is less than it desires rather than an actual reduction in spending– and that is the case with block grants and state funding.
Excluding state funding for KPERS, special education, bond & interest and a few small aid programs (as described by Deputy Commissioner Dale Dennis), state aid to schools totaled $2.951 billion last year and will increase to $3.093 billion this year. The total hits $3.114 billion in the 2017 school year, or 5.6% more than this year. KPERS spending is expected to increase by $124.4 million over the period, so state aid including KPERS (but not the other exclusions noted herein) would increase by 8.8% over three years.
Butler County schools will see a growth in state aid of 3.9% over the next three years through the new block grant funding system. Seven of the county’s nine districts will experience an increase. Rose Hill will receive the biggest at 7.5%. Andover and Bluestem will both get increases in excess of 5%. El Dorado (-0.5%) and Flinthills (-0.8%) will receive lower funding under the new law.
Schools in Sedgwick County will also see growth in state aid. Funding to those ten districts is scheduled to go up 5.4% over the next three years. Haysville and Goddard will both receive state aid increases of more than 10% through the block grants with Renwick close behind at 9.6%. Wichita, the state’s largest distr
ict will get 3.8% more. Only Mulvane (-1.6%) will see a decrease.
A list of all Kansas school districts can be downloaded here.
Total aid to sch
ools will also increase this year to $6.145 billion and set a record for the fourth consecutive year. The per-pupil amount of $13,343 will set a record for the third consecutive year. KDSE says the proposed block grants for the current school year total $3.408 billion (updated as of March 25 and including KPERS), but the block grants do not include state funding for Special Education or Bond & Interest aid. Including those amounts as listed in the Governor’s Budget Report puts total state aid at $3.982 billion. A few months ago, KSDE Deputy Superintendent of Finance Dale Dennis estimated Local aid at $1.652 billion and Federal aid at $510 million.
Here is a historical perspective on per-pupil school funding, adjusted upward for KPERS in the years prior to 2005 when it wasn’t included in KSDE funding reports. The solid blue line shows actual funding and the dashed red line show what funding would have if adjusted for inflation each year. FYI, funding this year would be $1.541 billion less if it had just been increased for inflation and enrollment.
