Officials with the Kansas Association of School Boards hope Kansas lawmakers will be able to avoid K-12 education funding cuts in the next legislative session. KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports.
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Kansas tossed out the old school funding formula and replaced it with a temporary block grant system. Some funding increases were built into the block grants for next year. Mark Tallman, with the Kansas Association of School Boards, has some concerns that lowered state revenues will make it tough to fund the block grants.
“Our revenue dollars suggest that’s going to be very difficult for the second year of the block grant, the second year of the state funding cycle. We certainly don’t want to go backwards in terms of funding,” says Tallman.
Last month, the state’s revenue projections were ratcheted down, putting Kansas into a budget deficit.
Governor Sam Brownback has given few details on what he’ll propose for the coming fiscal year, although he says he believes the state will be able to afford the bump in K-12 funding.