USD 257 Superintendent Stacey Fager is sounding the alarm over looming changes to education funding in Kansas, pointing to growing concerns about sustainability and priorities in school finance.
School financing was reshaped by the Kansas Supreme Court’s 2019 Gannon decision that forced the state to address constitutional inadequacies in how it funded public education.
Now however, Fager is concerned the progress made in recent years may be undermined by short-sighted or politically motivated policy shifts.
“Right now, schools have fared very well with this current legislative session,” he said. “There’s $137.5 million in new money for schools this year. Of that, $10 million is for special education.”
But Fager noted that $2.5 million of the special education allocation is simply replacing expiring federal COVID relief funds, meaning the true increase is closer to $7.5 million.
“When the Legislature has cut other state mandated services 1.5%, but they increased public education funding — that’s good,” he said. “I do want to commend them for that.”
Fager noted this funding uptick is just one part of a much more complex picture. He pointed to legislative tactics that, in his view, undermine the integrity of the current finance system. Chief among them is how inflationary adjustments are being handled.
“One example is they try to take money from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) where they should add more funding every year, based on inflation,” Fager explained. “They tried to take that CPI funding and attribute it to some things they already told us we needed to do, like purchasing AEDs and CPR training.”
“That funding was meant for base aid to help with teacher staff increases and salaries,” he said. “To just say we should use it for something else isn’t true to what the Gannon case and the Supreme Court said that should go for.”
A proposal by the Budget Conference Committee to redirect $1.5 million from the CPI adjustment to CPR and AED requirements was ultimately vetoed by Governor Laura Kelly — a move the Legislature was unable to override. But Fager sees the attempt as part of a troubling pattern.
“Budget deletions are another concern,” he added. “They deleted some funding this year that they paid for in the past because they said it wasn’t mandated by the Supreme Court ruling.”
Those cuts included $1.3 million for the Mentor Teacher Program and $1.8 million for professional development, shifting the cost burden to the already strained general fund.
FAGER’S biggest concern lies ahead. Under current law, the state’s school finance formula is set to expire in 2027 — a timing that aligns with the end of Gov. Kelly’s term and the start of a new administration.
“The Legislature is allowing the school finance formula to expire in 2027, which is creating some concern,” said Fager. “If it’s rewritten and reduces funding, how are we going to make up for that?”
The existing formula, which combines Base Aid for Student Excellence (BASE) adjusted for inflation with district enrollment and weighting factors, has served as the foundation for calculating equitable state support. Fager worries that the expiration opens the door to reforms that could erode hard-won gains, especially if done amid a budget crunch.
“If the Legislature doesn’t do anything with what they’ve established with income tax cuts and grocery sales tax cuts, they’re going to be out of money in two years,” he said.
