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How the Legislature can help Kansas students succeed


Posted Date: 04/13/2021

How the Legislature can help Kansas students succeed

The 2021 Kansas Legislature finished its regular session on April 9 but failed to pass a budget for K-12 education. Public school leaders and supporters can use the break between now and the beginning of the veto session May 3 to talk with their Senators and Representatives about what the state should do to help more Kansas students succeed. Here are four suggestions.

Fund the Gannon school finance plan to rebuild teaching, learning and student support in the public school system.

From 2009 to 2017, Kansas school operating budgets were cut more $500 million after adjusting for inflation. During that time, over 2,000 school jobs were lost, programs were eliminated, and school salaries fell behind inflation, worsening the teacher shortage districts already faced. Kansas per pupil funding dropped compared to the national and regional averages.

More concerning, Kansas scores on state and national tests declined after a decade of growth, putting Kansas students at an educational disadvantage, and threatening the state long-term rise in educational attainment.

In response to the Gannon school finance case, the Kansas Legislature and Kansas Supreme Court agreed to a six-year plan designed to restore funding to 2009 inflation-adjusted levels, from 2017-18 to 2022-23. It has already allowed districts to restore positions, expand programs for the most at-risk students and help school salaries catch up with inflation, other states and comparable professions.

The Legislature needs to approve the final two years of the plan for 2022 and 2023.

Use federal aid to help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kansas schools are expected to receive a total of over $1.3 billion in federal aid to spend over the next three to four years. It is an unprecedented amount of funding. It is also an unprecedented health and educational crisis.

Those funds are to be used for the additional costs of keeping schools safe to operate during the pandemic and then help students recover from lost learning time and the social and emotional effects of the past year. It estimated that over $200 million will be required for school health and safety costs. This funding could also provide $600 million for summer programs over the next four years and over $500 million for extra time and student support during the school year.

Note that these funds can only be used for COVID-related costs and are one-time funds that cannot support on-going costs. The federal formula also means districts receive very different amounts.

Preserve funding for public schools that serve all students.

The Legislature has been considering proposals to expand public funding for students to attend private schools by expanding students eligible for an existing scholarship program supported by tax credits and by creating a new program that would transfer base state aid for public school students into education accounts for private school tuition and other expenses.

Supporters says these programs would give students more freedom to choose other educational options. But under the proposals, it would be up to the private schools whether to accept any child, whether to provide services that child needs, and what standards the student must meet to continue to be enrolled. In other words, these programs do not give parents a choice unless the school also chooses to accept the child.

These programs represent a threat to public education for several reasons. First, because private schools can be selective in the students they serve with public funding, public schools must serve students these schools will not, or cannot, educate. Second, with an enrollment-based funding system, if public school students transfer to private schools, public schools eventually will lose funding while still serving more students with higher needs and higher costs.

Preserve local decisions in education, subject to local voters.

The past year has been enormously challenging for students, families and educators as schools navigated an unprecedented health challenge. Many decisions have been controversial, no matter what the decision was or might have been. School leaders have learned from the experience.

For example, while some students and families struggled with remote learning, others found advantages. Allowing students to spend a portion of their time learning remotely could give students and families more flexibility in how, when and what they learn, especially older students preparing to transition to college and the workforce. Unlike students in virtual schools, these students could also spend a large portion of time doing in person learning and activities, receiving support from the school. But one legislative proposal would cut funding for these students, creating a disincentive for more flexible learning options.

It is important not to tie the hands of future school leaders based solely on what happened this year. School boards are not just accountable to the state, they are also accountable to local voters, starting with elections this year. When the state dictates time, funding, and curriculum, it reduces the options for schools to respond to the needs of students in their communities. The State Legislature should be very cautious about assuming that “one size fits all” is best, especially when some areas were hit harder by the pandemic than others.

School leaders can localize this discussion by reviewing how they have used Gannon funding to rebuild programs and plans for the next two years; how they are looking at using federal COVID-19 aid over the next several years; interaction with local private schools; and ideas for redesigning schools to be more responsive to student, parent, and community needs.