Simplistic report on Kansas at-risk school spending ignores the realities of teaching

Last week, The Kansas City Star published an editorial that grossly misrepresents the hard work and careful appropriation of resources happening in Kansas public schools to improve student outcomes and provide our children the foundation they need to be successful in life.

The Star relies on a recent Legislative Post Audit report about spending by Kansas school districts that ignores credible research regarding what constitutes best practices for providing support for at-risk students. The editorial also ignores federal guidance in the Every Student Succeeds Act, the state’s plan to comply with that act, our annual review and approval process of all 286 districts’ at-risk spending plans, and the effects that a decade of underfunding have had on our state’s schools.

The audit report noted that school districts spent $493 million on at-risk students — 20% more than the $413 million allocated by the Legislature. We encourage Kansans to talk to their local superintendents, school boards and teachers to find out what is being done to meet at-risk students’ needs.

A fundamental flaw of the Legislative Post Audit report is that education research doesn’t define best practices strictly, as is seen in many other fields. But Kansas schools are utilizing best practices. At-risk students are general education students who have health and behavioral issues, trauma, poverty or homelessness that place them at risk of not graduating. To suggest there could be an exclusive list of programs or protocols from which schools could select completely discounts the school’s understanding of the uniqueness of each student and that student’s needs.

It would be too easy for people to draw the conclusion from the audit report that the only evidenced-based approach to educating at-risk students is to pull them out of regular classrooms and give them targeted intervention. Yet the research shows differentiated instruction within the general education setting is a more successful approach. Research also shows improving early education opportunities — preschool, pre-K and all-day kindergarten — helps prepare children so they start on track and stay on track.

The Kansas State Department of Education has repeatedly provided testimony to legislative committees about our approach to spending on at-risk students. We have written guidance and been open with lawmakers, testifying that funding teacher salaries, supplemental salaries (for school nurses, counselors and other positions besides teachers) and lowering class sizes with at-risk dollars are acceptable, evidence-based best practices for improving student achievement. Kansas’ at-risk funding isn’t a free-for-all, as the editorial may have readers believe.

It is important to remember that Kansas schools’ funding won’t be fully restored until 2023, based on accepted legislative remedies, amounting to a settlement agreement in the decade-long Gannon school finance case decided by the Kansas Supreme Court in June. The newly-restored dollars are now beginning to flow — so it is wrong to act as though school districts have always had the resources they are only now beginning to receive.

Our schools are responsible stewards working to educate a student body with increasing needs in order to meet the changing demands of a global workforce. The Kansas State Board of Education understands the critical importance of this undertaking, and believes it is irresponsible and dangerous for others to oversimplify the magnitude of that task and the approaches we are taking to meet the needs of Kansas’ at-risk students.

We are proud of our department’s Kansans Can School Redesign Project, which is transforming our education system to meet the changing needs of all students. We are beginning to see real progress. However, our students are unique individuals with their own backgrounds and abilities. Meaningful change in student outcomes for all takes an investment of time and financial resources.

This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Simplistic report on Kansas at-risk school spending ignores the realities of teaching."