TOPEKA ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius today said she’s not interested in a proposal before the State Board of Education to use tax dollars to send students to private schools.

“What’s interesting to me is that in some ways the board is focusing on old news,” Sebelius said.

The issue of private school vouchers has been unsuccessfully pushed in the Legislature for more than a decade, she said.

“I’m hoping that what we can do is move forward, and look at what is going to make the most effective public school system possible … not only in Kansas but in the country,” Sebelius said.

The Education Board today is scheduled to vote on whether to recommend the Legislature approve a vouchers and charter school expansion package.

Supporters of the measure say it will increase competition among schools, but opponents say it would hurt public schools by giving private schools an unfair advantage while siphoning tax dollars out of the public system.

“The attention of the Legislature needs to be on the system which is going to educate the vast, vast majority of Kansas children,” which is the public school system, Sebelius said.

Sebelius’ comments came at a news conference where she released results of an audit of four “resource efficient” school districts, Olathe, Arkansas City, Geary County and Scott County.

The audit done by Standard & Poor’s found that school districts that spend efficiently focus on reading and math, invest new money in instruction, aggressively recruit, retain and train teachers, and follow a district-wide business plan.

Sebelius said the audit results will be shared with districts statewide.

She said she hoped school boards would study the audit results to see if there are ways to spend money more wisely.

But she cautioned that what worked well for the four districts studied wouldn’t necessarily work in all districts.

“There is no silver bullet,” she said.