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State task force begins reexamination of Kansas school finance; Shawnee Mission officials told to expect changes
Summary
A K-12 school finance task force created in the 2024 legislative session is midway through work to redesign the state's school funding formula. Dr. Little told the Shawnee Mission board the panel will focus on weightings such as at-risk and special education, with possible major redistribution effects and a bill expected by the end of the year.
Dr. Little provided the Shawnee Mission School District Board of Education an update on the state K-12 education task force charged with reexamining the Kansas school finance formula.
The 15-member task force was created by a 2024 legislative bill and began meeting January 31, Dr. Little said. The panel is charged to propose a school finance formula reasonably calculated to have students meet required capacities, provide adequate, consistent and reliable funding, and offer meaningful accountability measures. The current school finance formula expires June 30, 2027, and the task force's chair has said the group intends to produce a draft bill by the end of 2025 for consideration by the 2026 Legislature.
Dr. Little told the board the committee has spent recent meetings reviewing components that feed into the formula—special education, at-risk funding, English-language-learners, transportation, and enrollment-based weightings—and has issued model runs that consider alternatives such as moving categorical weightings into the base funding calculation. He said some models under consideration would reallocate hundreds of millions of dollars and could help some districts while reducing funding to others.
Special education and at-risk weighting drew particular attention from the task force, Dr. Little said. Presentations have explored alternative approaches such as front-loading services, categorical funding by student need categories, or converting reimbursement-based special education funding to per-student weightings. He cautioned that changes to any weighting can have ripple effects across local option budgets and district revenues.
Board members asked how the public can engage. Dr. Little said the task force is using staff runs and presentations; public hearings on any resulting legislative bill would be the primary avenue for formal public comment. He also noted the State Department of Education and other superintendent groups are participating in outreach and that Kansas is building longitudinal data capacity to track postsecondary outcomes.
Dr. Little emphasized that committee members express differing views: some see the current formula as insufficient for academic improvement, while others argue funding increases are recent and the state is still implementing remedies from the Gannon case. The task force will meet through the late summer and fall with focused sessions on at-risk and special education in July and August.
