School Funding Needs to Stay Fair

Midterm elections are tomorrow. Have you been paying attention? Because the results of the governor’s race may well determine the future of educational funding in the state of Kansas.

Both Republican candidate Sam Brownback and Democratic candidate Tom Holland have made the issue central to their campaigns. The fate of millions of tax dollars hangs in the balance as school districts across Kansas watch the contest closely.

At the heart of the matter is the school finance formula, used to calculate the amount of money each school district can use to pay for yearly operational expenses, including salaries, benefits, course offerings, supplies and utilities.

According to Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of the Fiscal & Administrative Services Division of the State Department of Education, Kansas provides a base amount of $4,012 per student enrolled in a district. That number is adjusted to account for extra expenses an individual district may have, such as more special-needs or at-risk students. The final amount is called “State Financial Aid.”

Districts are required to raise money locally for education through mill levies, a type of property tax, if they cannot cover expenses with the $4,012 per student. The amount they can raise is limited to 31 percent of the State Financial Aid amount, however. If a district still cannot cover expenses (for instance, if it has especially low property values), the state provides it with additional money in the form of equalization dollars.

This formula was adopted in 2005 after a lawsuit against the state in which the Kansas Supreme Court deemed the previous finance system inequitable and unconstitutional. In public debates, Holland has stated that he wants to preserve the current formula. Brownback, on the other hand, has proposed revising the formula to give more local control to school districts while also providing for poorer districts unable to raise as much money for themselves.

However, the Senator has not given specifics on exactly how his plan would work, and a storm of debate has ensued over what actions he would take if elected governor and instituted “more local control.” Most worrisome have been claims of a larger rural-urban split in funding and a greater tax burden on local communities in order to make up for drastic educational budget cuts.

Constituents have every right to be concerned. Without a concrete course of action, we can only speculate about how Brownback would achieve his goals. On the surface, the idea of allowing local voters to decide if their own tax money should go toward education goals sounds like a harmless proposition. But dig a bit deeper, and the divide between Kansas’ wealthy and poorer counties becomes more evident.

For instance, Johnson County, the most affluent county in Kansas, has the financial resources to invest in education. But a declining county such as Syracuse, located in the northwest corner of Kansas, is struggling to survive, let alone fund educational programs. More local control will not help Syracuse, and it cannot replace basic state funding of education for students there.

When changes to the finance formula are being considered, the situations of students in all districts should be considered. If more local control is deemed to be the right path, and districts are allowed to raise funds independently, then the most fair choice is to apportion the funds raised by individual districts with the rest. Some may say that is unfair to districts like SMSD that have the ability to raise more funds; they may feel it’s their money, so they should keep it. But truly, that attitude is not what education in this country should be about. Education should be about giving every student the same resources and quality of education, so they are equally prepared for the future.            Legislators should strive to make sure that the educational experiences for all Kansas students are not vastly different simply because of where they live. It may seem like a lofty goal, but ensuring that all school districts have equal access to funds is a step in the right direction.

If you want to do more, do more for everybody.

11 For | 0 Against | 1 Absent

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