To the editor:

In his recent letter to the editor, Doug Van Oort, seeking to boost support for increased educational spending, asserts that K-12 per-student spending in Kansas grew only 7.5 percent in the past 10 years while inflation rose 27 percent and personal income rose 46 percent. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, national expenditures per pupil on public primary and secondary education, when adjusted for inflation, increased nearly 15 percent from 1991-92 to 2001-02. Kansas’ increase was slightly above the national average at 15.6 percent. If we assume inflation was 27 percent, the per pupil spending increase was well over 40 percent. Per pupil expenditure in Kansas was $6,906 in FY 2002 (see rockinst.org/publications/fiscal_studies/SFN_2_8.pdf)

It has been interesting for us to note statistics indicating that many states having the best student achievement are also among the lowest per capita expenditures, typically rural midwestern states. Students often succeed well in private schools and home schools where per capita expenditures are much less and with limited facilities.

Our conclusion is that the most significant key to student achievement is not how much we spend, how elaborate the facilities, how up-to-date the curriculum, but whether parents are engaged and interested in the education of their children and youth. If we care about the future of our children and youth, we need to struggle with the hard question of how we as a society can strengthen our families.

David and Cathy Barfield,

Lawrence