Rep. Owen Donohoe - Kansas School Spending vs. Achievement

Kansas Education Spending & Achievement

The road to improvement starts with these facts

I've been involved in many recent public presentations of facts about education spending and achievement in Kansas' K-12 school districts. I like to bring both sides of the table together for these presentations, so people can hear all the facts.

The Kansas Policy Institute has made available copies of these important presentation from both the Kansas Assn. of School Boards (represented by Mark Tallman) and the Kansas Policy Institute (represented by Dave Trabert). I encourage you to read and share this information with your colleagues, teachers, parents and neighbors. A clear understanding of the facts is key to helping us solve the challenges that we face in Kansas. As we strive to improve academic achievement at an affordable cost in Kansas, we must examine these facts.

View the presentation from Mark Tallman, Kansas Assn. of School Boards >>

View the presentation from Dave Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute >>

Get more resources and video presentations here >>

Next Steps in Education

School districts should use available cash

Both the KS Assn. of School Boards and the Kansas Policy Institute agreed on one key thing at our education forum: It's not all about money.

But often, what we hear from school districts is that there's never enough. So here's where we encourage them to start. One key point of discussion at our forums has been the amount of carryover cash/unencumbered funds that Kansas school districts have compiled but not used.

I've compiled this list at right to show that our local area districts in Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties have considerable cash on hand. Last year, much of this money was freed up to be used, but it wasn't -- only 4% of this money was used by Kansas districts. Before the districts ask the Legislature for more money, let's put this money to work first in the classroom -- hiring teachers committed to better student outcomes.

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