Topeka — Legislators are questioning the value of a proposed $100 million investment in public education, saying it is a leap of faith that the infusion of money will ease the pain of declining enrollments and teacher vacancies.
Education groups and officials contend the investment will treat the symptoms of those problems but will not be a cure.
"It really represents just kind of the minimal thing we need to do," said Mark Tallman, lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards. "It doesn't really solve the problem. For now, we need to get something significant done this year."
For districts, "something significant" would be money to offset the effect of declining enrollments. State aid is based on head counts, so that when enrollment drops, the state assistance but not necessarily a district's costs falls as well.
Statewide, 189 school districts are facing declining enrollments. It is not only a rural problem; the Kansas City, Kan., and Shawnee Mission districts in northeast Kansas are losing students, too.
Kansas City officials are struggling with teacher vacancies more than a dozen in individual schools. Shawnee Mission's board is looking to trim as much as $9 million from its budget, including by closing three elementary schools.
However, some legislators say schools are no different from businesses, meaning in lean times, there have to be cuts, often deep and painful.
Rep. Doug Spangler, D-Kansas City, said part of the problem is that the Legislature cut taxes during the last seven years and eroded its ability to increase education spending at the rate of inflation. As a result, teacher salaries, while good for the profession, are not competitive with the rest of the economy.
"The real issue is, are we spending those dollars efficiently?" Spangler said.
Spangler suggests that if districts must make cuts, they should look at school bureaucracies, not teachers. He and many of his House colleagues believe that raising taxes will not solve the problem.
Graves this week proposed a $112 million package of additional education spending that would increase the base state aid per pupil by $110, to $3,930 from the current $3,820; pay 90 percent of the excess cost for special education; and set aside $34 million for teacher and school incentive programs.
Some House members say the governor's plan presented Tuesday arrived too late in the legislative session to merit debate.
A Senate plan would raise the state sales tax to 5.5 percent over three years from the current 4.9 percent, adding $90 to the base state aid each year.
One of the architects of that plan, Sen. Christine Downey, D-Newton, said the House inclination to do little this session for education is wrong.
"To do nothing for schools is a message of irresponsibility," she said.
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