Kansas lawmakers hear disappointing news about student test scores

As a Kansas education official briefed lawmakers Tuesday about disappointments in student test scores, Republican legislators were quick to make a point that school funding was not the culprit.

Brad Neuenswander, deputy education commissioner, said the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed decreasing scores, a troubling result when coupled with declines in student proficiency assessments since 2012.

And while ACT scores have kept pace with national results, he said, only about 45 percent of Kansas students who continue their education past high school receive a degree or certificate after five years.

“We need to do better than that,” he said.

The Special Committee on K-12 Student Success, a 15-member interim committee of House and Senate members, held its second meeting Tuesday. Its task is to make recommendations on school financing, possibly through a new funding formula, and on improving student outcomes.

The committee on Tuesday reviewed test scores, administrative salaries, staffing and school district audits.

The topics prompted comments about whether state funding for schools has gone up or down — a point of contention between some lawmakers and school district officials — and whether there is a correlation between funding levels and student achievement.

Rep. Jerry Lunn, an Overland Park Republican on the committee, said K-12 school spending had increased $312 million over the past three years. Yet that hasn’t resulted in improved test scores, he said.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to just say ‘We need more money,’ ” said Lunn, who added that more of the resources need to be focused on the classroom.

But school district officials maintain that with rising operating expenses and inflation, they have less to spend per student.

David Smith, spokesman for the Kansas City, Kan., district, attended Tuesday’s committee meeting and objected to the claims about spending.

“The comments about the lack of connection between spending and achievement are off-base,” Smith said.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat and committee member, asked legislative post auditor Scott Frank about a finding from a 2006 audit on that issue, the correlation between spending and student outcomes.

“Close to 1 to 1,” Frank said. “It was a very strong, statistically significant relationship.”

The state’s current block grant plan for financing schools, which replaced a spending formula, has come under fire from school district officials. Block grants were approved for two years until the state could draw up a new formula.

The special committee set its next meeting for Dec. 9.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Kansas lawmakers hear disappointing news about student test scores."