Presenters tell committee Kansas student achievement is flat while per‑pupil spending and district reserves have risen

Dave Trabert, CEO of the Kansas Policy Institute and of the Kansas School Board Resource Center, told the Committee on K‑12 Education Budget that long‑term achievement measures are flat or declining even as per‑pupil spending and district operating reserves have grown.

Trabert said graduation rates and participation patterns mask falling college‑readiness on the ACT — “graduation rates going up and college readiness plummeting from 32% to just 18%,” according to a chart he referenced comparing 2015 and 2024 — and that NAEP reading proficiency for fourth and eighth grades is lower now than when all states first administered NAEP in 2002–2003.

He told members that inflation‑adjusted spending per student has risen substantially on a long‑term track while achievement has not: “all along spending per student has been well above inflation on a long term track,” he said. He also highlighted that operating cash reserves held by Kansas school districts have grown; the packet he supplied showed operating reserves (excluding bond, capital outlay and federal funds) and a carryover ratio that he said…