Kansas school districts sitting on $1.36 billion

by Bob Weeks on April 29, 2009

In its first story since the hiring of investigative journalist Paul Soutar, the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy takes a look at the Kansas school budget process, specifically the large amount of unencumbered cash held by Kansas school districts.

It appears that the Kansas system of school finance is complicated. “Kansas Board of Education member Walt Chappell says the current approach to school budgeting needs an overhaul. ‘Right now we’ve got a convoluted system that’s been developed over the years that has almost no correlation to what is needed to educate a child.’”

The article is available in pdf form by clicking on School Districts Sitting on $1.36 Billion.

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Tagged as: Kansas state government, Wichita and Kansas schools

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Carla April 29, 2009 at 3:14 pm: As Jim Nabors used to say as Gomer Pyle “Ser-prize, ser-prize, ser-prize!”
2 Wichitator April 29, 2009 at 5:48 pm: With the economy in a crisis, why are the school districts hoarding cash and claiming that even the tiniest of budget reductions will have catastrophic impact upon the children? The school districts have hoards of lobbyists on their payrolls. Last year the Kansas Association of School Boards, had a double digit number. Check out the Secretary of State’s web site for this year’s taxpayer funded lobbyist information.
3 Dan April 29, 2009 at 8:14 pm: We need to keep passing this information on to as many readers as possible. Maybe now that the bank accounts of most kansans.are empty we can get expose the hidden fact that the schools in kansas are loaded. Keep up the good work.

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