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Board member summarizes state school-finance task force: weightings, transportation and literacy rising as priorities
Summary
A board member who serves on the state's education funding task force reported extensive discussion of enrollment, transportation and bilingual weightings and said some members favor simplifying the formula by shifting weighting dollars to base aid — but that changes produce wide ripple effects across districts and local levy authority.
Board member Shannon (last name in transcript) reported to the Lawrence board on the June meetings of the Kansas education funding task force, which continues to debate the state school-finance formula’s weightings and whether to simplify some components by moving money into base state aid.
What the task force examined: Shannon said the group focused on high- and low-enrollment weightings, transportation funding models and bilingual (bilingual/ELL) funding. The task force heard proposals to eliminate some weightings and add that money to base state aid, but members and staff warned that small formula changes have broad "ripple effects" that affect state aid equalization and local option budget authority.
Transportation and bilingual funding: The task force discussed alternative transportation models used by other states, including tiered distances and funding tied to safety hazards, and many members questioned funding that is tied to recorded hours of bilingual service versus a per-student allocation. Shannon said members were interested in models that better incentivize early-literacy supports (K–3) and discussed whether incentives should fund grade retention, interventions or summer programs.
Assessment and accountability discussion: The task force debated measures of student success and the role of graduation rates; one member called graduation rates "completely meaningless," Swift reported task force pushback and said many members favored measuring growth over time rather than single-day standardized tests.
Next steps: The board member said July meetings will resume detailed work on at-risk weightings, follow-up on transportation and bilingual discussions, and that August will be devoted to special-education funding.
How to follow: She told the board members where to find agendas, documents and livestreams on the Kansas Legislature website and the legislature’s YouTube channel, and recommended tracking Kansas Legislative Research Department resources and state-focused outlets such as The Kansas Reflector and the Topeka Capital-Journal for summaries.
