Kansas support for higher education

How does Kansas state support for higher education compare to other states?

In the Wichita Eagle, Chapman Rackaway contributes a satirical look at Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and his handling of Kansas government. And, the governor deserves many of Rackaway’s jabs. But there is something that needs clarification, which is the contention that Kansas is a backwater state when it comes to higher education funding, at least compared to Washington state. (Chapman Rackaway: How about Brownback as K-State president?, April 8, 2016.)

Rackaway writes: “That Washington State could pay [departing Kansas State University president Kirk] Schulz so much more is unsurprising to anyone paying attention to states’ budget priorities.” He goes on to write that Kansas government has not prioritized higher education funding, and that Washington state recently committed to additional higher education support.

There are organizations that collect and present data on this topic. State Higher Education Executive Officers Association publishes a report titled State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) study ¹ The figures used below are for the most recent year for which data is available.

According to this report, in fiscal year 2014, Kansas appropriated $5,648 per FTE. Washington’s figure is $5,700, or 0.9 percent more than Kansas. Over the past five years, Kansas appropriations per FTE fell by 15.8 percent. In Washington they fell by 20.6 percent. (Table 5)

For fiscal year 2013, higher education support per capita in Kansas was $342. In Washington, it was $197. The same table also reports higher education support per $1000 of personal income. In Kansas the figure is $7.70, and in Washington, $4.13. For Kansas, these two figures are 132 percent and 133 percent of the national average. (Table 10)

From these two data points — and these are not the only ways to compare — I think we can conclude that Kansas appropriates nearly as much as does Washington, on a per-student basis.

Further, Kansans are much more generous in supporting its public universities, when measured by per-capita contribution. (Calling Kansans generous with their taxes is a falsehood, as taxation has nothing to do with generosity, except the generosity of politicians with money that belongs to other people.)

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