The Kansas Legislature doesn’t begin the 2020 session for a month, but a new report from the Division of Post Audit may spark debate on one aspect of education funding.
Post Audit surveyed 20 public school districts to determine how they used around $413 million in at-risk funds. Report supervisor Heidi Zimmerman says most of the at-risk expenses reviewed by Post Audit were focused on teachers and programs that serve all students instead of at-risk pupils and the effectiveness of many at-risk programs or practices used in the surveyed districts is in question.
The first concern: 96 percent of the overall at-risk dollars were spent on staff.
Post Audit also had several concerns about programming.
Not surprisingly, the Kansas State Department of Education disagrees with the Post Audit findings, especially when it comes to compliance with state law and effectiveness of smaller class sizes. Post Audit, however, says the money was used for broader purposes and more students than allowed and the Department of Education provided no evidence of any background research to support the use of the funded programs and practices as surveyed by Post Audit.
The state dedicated $413 million to help students who may be at risk of failing as part of its current public school funding package. Districts qualify for at-risk funding based on the number and percentage of students eligible for free lunches as well as related weightings.
