1. With additional spending, long-term Kansas educational attainment increased. High school completion and college degree attainment has increased overall and for major groups, boosting personal income. Some short-term measures, such as state and national tests scores, were increasing as funding rose in the 2000’s but have declined after funding lagged behind inflation from 2009 to 2017 and have not recovered.
Educational attainment by Kansans over age 24, is at an all-time high, increasing as Kansas funding for K-12 education has increased. Kansas high school graduation rates are also the highest ever, despite an increase in high needs students.
Since 2000, the percent of Kansas 25 and older who have completed high school increased from 86 to 91.8 percent and with a four-year college degree from 28.8 to 34.0 percent. All major racial and ethnic groups saw improvement.
Because higher educational levels on average result in higher earnings, the increase in Kansas at higher educational attainment since 1990 is estimated to have increased earnings in Kansas by over $7 million.
However, most of the increase in Kansas funding over inflation occurred before 2009 and after 2017. Short-term measures, like state and national test scores, were increasing during the 2000’s as funding increased, but began declining as funding fell behind inflation from 2010 to 2017. Now, districts will also be dealing with impact of the COVID pandemic.
2. School funding increased in part because total student enrollment increased, and the number of students with greater needs such as special education and poverty, increased much faster. In response to requests from parents, Legislators and others, schools hired more people and contracted with more providers to enhance services for students and families. These include more early childhood programs, more counselors and health staff, more technology support and more transportation.
Adding staff for higher enrollment and more services ($645 million)
In 2020, districts employed almost 72,000 people, an increase of nearly 11,000 more than in 1999. At average salary and benefits, excluding KPERS, of $58,581, the increased number of employees resulted in an additional $645 million beyond inflation. Why were those additional staff members added?
Special education. By far the largest growth area was special education teachers (790) and paraprofessionals (2,720). These positions deliver services to students with disabilities and gifted students as required by state and federal law. Kansas students receiving special education increased from 61,000 to almost 74,000 (about 20 percent) and many have more severe disabilities. ($206 million in new positions)
Special Education also increased as policies and practices changed. Students with disabilities are now educated in the least restrictive environments, the classroom, and students with severe disabilities are no longer in special schools or institutions, but these approaches are much more expensive.
Enrollment growth and class size. Districts added nearly 763 “regular” classroom teachers and over 1,156 classroom aides as headcount enrollment increased by 30,000 from 1999 to 2019, and districts tried to keep classes small for better results. ($112 million in new positions)
Early Childhood. Districts added 776 kindergarten teachers to expand to all-day kindergarten in almost every district and an additional 489 pre-kindergarten teachers to expand preschool programs. ($75 million in new positions)
Student Support. Districts added nearly 1,400 persons to add services for student physical and mental health, career planning and other needs, including nurses and health staff, counselors, social workers, school psychologists, school resource officers and attendance staff. ($84 million in new positions)
Technology Support. Districts added nearly 1,000 positions in support of educational technology, reflecting the changes in how schools, educators and students use technology over the past 20 years. ($59 million in new positions)
Career Technical Education. Districts added 661 CTE teachers as programs to prepare students with postsecondary career training were expanded. ($39 million in new positions)
Transportation. Districts added 475 positions to expand transportation for students, often for safety and attendance support. ($28 million in new positions)
Districts added small numbers of positions in food service, operations and maintenance, and school administration, and reduced positions in central services and general administration.
Expanded Professional Contract Services ($406 million)
While KSDE reports do not detail where districts spent the additional $406 million over inflation, there are number of possible reasons why these costs have increased further.
Outsourcing. More districts contract for functions like food service and operations and maintenance, areas where demand for more services, due to larger buildings, more meals and additional federal requirements become a stressor on district employee capacity.
Transportation by districts that contract for bus services. As noted, school transportation employees increased as districts bus more students. Districts with contract bus service faced these same increases.
More students with high cost, special needs. Districts report growing numbers of students with more severe disabilities and behavioral and mental health issues who require specialized services districts cannot provide themselves. This increases costs of participating in special education cooperatives and interlocal agreements as well as partnering with community health services and other organizations.
Technology. As noted, the use of school technology for students and staff has exploded, from limited computer “labs” to “one-to-one” devices for every student. Many districts have contracted for professional IT services instead of, or in addition to, hiring more staff.
Postsecondary Programs. The number of students in dual and concurrent enrollment for technical education and academic courses has increased dramatically. Some districts contract with colleges for these programs or share facilities and other program costs.
Facilities. Professional services are used for many aspects of building construction, costs of which have increased significantly. Updates or renovations to the large number of 1950’s buildings constructed in response to the Baby Boom, have proved costly to districts as they now provide a significantly increased number of services from that time period.
3. Most district spending goes to salaries and benefits, which increased more than inflation to stay competitive with other employers. District paid salaries and benefits have increased at a slightly lower rate than overall employment costs. Districts have also increased funding for contracted employee services.
Increased district salaries and benefits ($350 million)
In 1999, districts spent $2.167 billion on employee salaries and benefits, which was about 70 percent of total school funding. Of this amount, $2.09 billion was salaries and benefits determined by local school districts, including benefits such as health insurance. Another $78 million was contributions to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System funded by the State but funneled through district budgets and explained further in the next section.
With about 61,000 full time equivalent employees in 1999, each employee received an average of $34,242 in salaries and benefits provide by districts. If districts simply kept the same number of people and increased total salary and benefits at the rate of inflation, these costs would have increased to $3.33 billion.
However, school districts must compete with other employers, public and private, and wages and benefits usually rise more than inflation. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national Employment Cost Index for all workers increased from 80.2 in 1999 to 141.4 in 2020, or 76.3 percent. So, to keep competitive with the same number of employees, school compensation would have increased to $3.68 billion - $350 million more than inflation alone.
In fact, average employee salaries and benefits paid by districts, excluding KPERS, increased from $34,242 to $58,591, or 71.1 percent, slightly below the national average increase in the Employment Cost Index.
Increased Professional Contract Services ($53 million)
In 1999, districts spent $247 million on purchased services, essentially purchasing services from individuals who work for other employers. Increasing for inflation only, would have resulted in spending $382 million. Actual expenditures were $841 million, a difference of $459 million in excess of inflation.
A portion of this would be the same need to increase salaries to be competitive, which would be reflected in contract services. Matching the rate of the employment cost index would increase spending on professional services to $435 million, accounting for $53 million of the increase over inflation.
4. Voters approved improvements school facilities, reflecting higher construction costs, shifting populations and changes in educational needs and.
Rising Construction Costs ($100 million)
In 1999, districts paid $196 million for debt service, primarily on school construction bonds. If increased at the rate of inflation only, the 2020 amount would be $302 million.
However, school building construction costs have increased more than the consumer price index, like salaries but even more so. The BLS has provided a national School Building Cost Index since 2005, which increased from 100 in 2005 to 174.0 2020 (74 percent), more than double the CPI increased 31.8 percent.
If school building costs had increased at double the rate of inflation since 1999, $195 million in 1999 would equal over $400 million in 2019, or about $100 million more than inflation.
Enhanced School Facilities ($300 million)
In 2019, debt service had increased to $702 million, $400 million more than the rate of inflation only and about $300 million more than the school construction cost index.
Virtually all of the increase in debt service is approved by local voters in bond issue elections. Whether these buildings are larger or “nicer” than previous levels of expenditures is a decision to which local voters have agreed.
School buildings have tended to increase in size because of higher enrollments in growing districts, a trend toward smaller high schools, expanded room for special education programs and other services, significantly enhanced career technical educational facilities, and community support for student activity facilities.
Districts have also used bonds to provide more energy efficient facilities, improve safety through storm shelters and security changes, and to support technology infrastructure.
Finally, districts approved new facilities to keep mill levies down before the Legislature make changes in the state formulas to reduce aid for districts with lower property wealth per pupil.
5. The state of Kansas has had to increase funding for the state public employees’ retirement system to make up for years of past underfunding. These funds are included in school district budgets, but they simply “pass through” from the state to KPERS.
KPERS Underfunding ($420 million)
Benefits under the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, which covers most school employees, are set by the state. Each participating employee pays a fixed percentage of salary into the system. The state determines an actuarial rate for the employer, which is based on estimates of the amount required to pay future benefits, less employee contribution and investment returns. The Legislature annually determines the actual rate paid.
In 1999, the actual contributions of $78 million were far below the actuarial rate, resulting in a large and growing unfunded liability for the system. In response, the Legislature increased contributions more than the rate of inflation most years since 1999, not to increase benefits but to make up for years of underfunding.
KPERS payments for school district employees increased from $78 million in 1999 to $539 million in 2020, or $420 million more than inflation alone ($120 million).
6. Kansas has had to keep up with other states in K-12 funding. The national and regional average per pupil funding has increased more than Kansas funding per pupil. Without additional funding, Kansas would have fallen much further behind.
As Kansas has increased funding more than inflation over the past two decades, most other states have increased even more. In 1998-99, Kansas total funding per pupil was 95.1 percent of the U.S. average, dropping to 90.3 percent in 2018, the most recent year national data in available. Kansas funding was 5 percent more than the regional average of Plains and neighboring states in 1999, but just 0.7 percent more than in 2018.
7. Although school funding has increased more than inflation, it has not increased more than total income of Kansas residents. In fact, Kansans are spending a smaller share of income on K-12 education than they were 20 years ago.
It should be noted that while school funding rose more than inflation, it did NOT increase more than total income of Kansans. Kansas personal income, the total annual income of all state residents from all sources, increased from $72.3 billion in 1999 to $158.4 billion in 2019, an increase of 116.7 percent. Total school spending in 1999 was 4.59 percent of total personal income and 4.47 percent in 2020, based on the most recent estimate.
Overall, Kansans are actually spending a slightly smaller share of their income on public education in 2019 than 20 years before. However, because of changes in the tax code, some individuals may be paying more in taxes to support the school system, and others spending less.
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