Topeka ? Oops.

A 2001 report that indicated Kansas spent too much on public school administration at the expense of classroom instruction was off by about $200 million, according to an audit released Monday.

The original report was used by some lawmakers to fight attempts during the 2002 legislative session to increase school funding.

But while showing that more was actually spent on classroom instruction, the new audit didn’t let school bureaucrats off the hook completely. It also found that an incorrect calculation of school spending cost the state $3.8 million in federal funding.

The adjusted numbers were given to lawmakers by the Legislative Division of Post Audit.

Some lawmakers sounded tired of the seemingly endless mining of school funding comparisons between Kansas and other states, noting that no state counts its education expenses in the same manner.

“We’re talking about something that is almost a footnote on the issue of school finance,” said state Sen. Derek Schmidt, R-Independence.

But Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, called the audit “probably one of the most important audits done because of the dollars involved.”

Public school funding makes up about half of the state budget, which currently faces a nearly $800 million shortfall against about $4.4 billion in spending.

Up seven spots

In dispute was a 2001 audit based on financial data all 50 states provided to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. The data are used for comparative purposes and to determine how much money each state should get for certain federal programs.

That audit found Kansas ranked 48th nationally in the percentage of its school financing spent on classroom instruction, and at the bottom of a group of states that included Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma.

The audit was used by public school critics, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Shallenburger, as evidence that there was waste and inefficiency in school spending. Public school defenders said the comparison was unfair because different states calculated their spending differently.

A subsequent audit was ordered and the auditors found Kansas did not count $204 million spent for classroom instruction that it should have. This included $109 million in federal funds, most of which was used to help disadvantaged students; $69 million in school activity funds; $15 million in gifts and grants; $9 million spent at the schools for the deaf and blind; and $2 million spent on education at juvenile correction agencies.

Adding this money into the comparisons boosted Kansas from 48th to 41st in the percentage of money spent in the classroom, and in the middle of the group of nearby states.

Questionable comparisons

School officials didn’t include the federal money in the original data submitted to the federal government because state law exempts federal funds from certain budget calculations, auditors said.

Kansas auditors said they found that neighboring states included the federal funds, but they could not determine whether those states included other types of funds in the statistics given to the federal government.

House Democratic Leader Jim Garner of Coffeyville said different budgeting methods by the various states made the comparisons questionable at best.

“I don’t think we gain a lot by using this as a comparable tool,” Garner said.

Schmidt said instead of trying to draw comparisons with other states, Kansas officials should try to get a handle on comparative costs from district to district within the state.

The new audit found that by not counting the federal spending in its total school expenditures, Kansas lost out on an additional $3.8 million in federal money, which would have been mostly used for disadvantaged students and migrant children.