A group of Kansas lawmakers will start studying state education spending at a committee meeting later this week. The group will begin by looking at how much Kansas spends and where it goes. Republican state Representative Ron Highland is heading up the group. He says they’re going to study if the state is spending its money wisely.
“If we see we’ve been spending millions and millions of dollars in one category and the outcomes have been the same or gone down, we need to look closely at that,” says Highland.
The committee will recommend changes in the way Kansas funds education. Lawmakers will consider the proposals when they work on writing a new school funding formula next legislative session.
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Lawmakers will be taking a deep dive into Kansas education funding during a series of committee meetings. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, the group starts its work later this week.
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The lawmakers will start by looking at how tax dollars are spent in Kansas education. Later, they'll look at student performance. Republican state Representative Ron Highland is heading up the committee. He says they could recommend some types of spending go up or down.
“We are the eyes and ears for both the House and Senate. We’ll go back to our respective chambers and tell them ‘these are the things we found,” says Highland.
Lawmakers will consider the information as they work on writing a new school funding formula next legislative session. Lawmakers threw out the old funding formula earlier this year and went to a temporary block grant system.