KNEA uses incomplete funding data to argue for tax hikes

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In a story illustrated with several charts, Kansas Liberty shows that the Kansas National Education Association or (KNEA, the teachers union), is not to be trusted when talking about Kansas school finance.

Why?

School spending advocates claim that spending on schools in Kansas is declining rapidly. It’s true that base state aid per pupil, the starting point for the Kansas school finance formula, has been cut.

But when considering the total spending by schools, a quite different picture emerges. From the Kansas Liberty story:

Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of education for the Kansas State Department of Education, said the discrepancy in reports is a result of the common practice of legislators and school advocates only citing the base state aid K-12 receives for gauging funding levels.

“They use general state aid, which is the primary operating fund,” Dennis told Kansas Liberty. “But they don’t use the total.”

The complete story is at KNEA uses incomplete funding data to argue for tax hikes.

Related stories are at Kansas school funding email confuses, misleads and Wichita and Kansas schools.

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