TOPEKA ? The Baldwin school district was among 16 that were recognized today by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in announcing the results of an audit of how effectively local school districts were spending their money.

The other 15 school districts identified in the Standard & Poor’s audit as being “Highly Resource Effective” are: Arkansas City, Geary County, Halstead, Hays, Hesston, Lincoln, Macksville, Nickerson, Renwick, Rock Creek, Scott County, Spearville, Stafford, Vermillion and Wamego. (See the Baldwin report.)

“Kansas parents send three things to Kansas schools: their kids, their hopes for the future, and their hard-earned money. They expect our schools to take the best possible care of all three. Our new investments in schools require increased accountability,” the governor said in prepared remarks.

The study, the first of its kind in the country, is designed to show how Kansas schools can be more effective and to increase accountability, the governor said. The 16 school districts named reflects their ability to get a good return on taxpayers’ investments, according to the governor.

Sebelius originally proposed the accountability examinations in early 2004, but the Legislature refused to support them. The governor then decided to work with the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, which agreed to sponsor the efficiency reviews.

Standard & Poor’s determined resource effectiveness by analyzing the relationship between student performance on the Kansas’ math and reading assessments, the percentage of a school district’s economically disadvantage students, and the level of district spending.

In the study, academic performance was calculated by using Reading and Math Proficiency (RaMP) rates. RaMP is a ratio developed by Standard & Poor’s that reflects the percentage of all state reading and math tests combined that have received a score of proficiency or better within a school district.

To make the list, the school districts had to meet the following criteria, according to Standar & Poor’s:

–“Serve all grades K through 12 and enroll more than 200 students. Standard & Poor’s analyzed only K-12 districts that enrolled more than 200 students so that equitable comparisons could be made (instead of comparing K-8 districts, for example, to K-12 districts) and so that the Highly Resource-Effective districts would serve as appropriate benchmarks for the greatest number of school districts within the state;

— “Achieve high ‘risk-adjusted’ productivity scores for 2003 and 2004 to show consistently noteworthy productivity. Standard & Poor’s generated productivity scores by calculating RaMP rates for every $1,000 spent per student on core operations. Productivity values represent a school district’s ability to maximize student performance given the resources at its disposal. Standard & Poor’s adjusted productivity scores for each district’s proportional enrollment of students whose economically disadvantages backgrounds may increase their ‘risk’ of lower academic achievement. In addition, the dollar figures used in these calculations are adjusted to account for factors beyond a district’s control, such as the higher cost of educating students with disabilities and limited English proficiency;

— “Achieve high ‘risk-adjusted’ student performance scores for 2003 and 2004 to show consistently noteworthy performance. Standard & Poor’s calculated risk-adjusted student performance by using a district’s RaMP rates while accounting for the percentage of economically disadvantaged students enrolled in the district; and

— “Make Adequately Yearly Progress to demonstrate absolute performance using the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind law.”