NewsOK
BY BRIAN DOWNS
Published: August 28, 2010
Before voters make up their minds about State Question 744, which would force lawmakers to spend an additional billion dollars-plus on K-12 education, they should look to their neighbors to the north. In Kansas, the goal of improving education simply by spending more money had devastating results.
A Kansas Supreme Court decision in 2005 forced a massive increase in education spending. In 2004, Kansas spent about $2 billion on K-12 education, much like Oklahoma does now. Kansas' entire budget was around $7 billion which, again, is similar to Oklahoma. Fast forward to 2010: Kansas' education budget is more than $3 billion and the entire state budget is $14 billion! With expansion like that, you'd assume Kansas students are doing much better than before. But you'd be wrong.
The truth is that the percentage of Kansas fourth-graders considered proficient in mathematics actually decreased from 2005 to 2009 as did the percentage of eighth-graders considered proficient in reading. Hardly seems worth a billion dollars, does it? FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sat, August 28, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski