<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1582221969260.jpeg" alt="Mark Tallman. Photo courtesy Kansas Association of School Boards" />
 <figcaption>Mark Tallman. Photo courtesy Kansas Association of School Boards</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARK TALLMANThe latest national report on K-12 education&nbsp;funding&nbsp;by states&nbsp;showed that Kansas&nbsp;was still far below 2009 levels in 2019, compared to both the national average and states in the region.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Legislature and Kansas Supreme Court agreed in the&nbsp;Gannon&nbsp;school finance case to increase school operating funding back to the 2009 level over a six-year period, from 2018 through 2023. The 2021 Legislature appropriated funding for the final years of the plan.&nbsp;The U.S. Census Report&nbsp;conducts&nbsp;an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances/data/tables.html" target="_blank">annual survey of public elementary and secondary school finances</a>.&nbsp;It was recently updated to include 2019 information – the second year of the Gannon plan.&nbsp;The report shows Kansas total revenue per pupil in 2019 was $13,851, 15.7 percent higher than 2009, when it was&nbsp;$11,939. In the 2019 the U.S. average was&nbsp;$15,685, 28 percent higher than 2009.&nbsp;The consumer price index increased 19.2 percent over that period.&nbsp;In 2009, Kansas revenue per pupil – all funding from state, local and federal sources – was&nbsp;2.5 percent&nbsp;below&nbsp;the U.S. average. By 2017, it has fallen to&nbsp;10.9&nbsp;percent&nbsp;below. In 2018, the first year of Gannon school plan, Kansas rose slightly to&nbsp;9.7&nbsp;percent&nbsp;below the national average, but fell to 11.1&nbsp;percent&nbsp;below&nbsp;in 2019.&nbsp;Compared to states&nbsp;in the region (Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota,&nbsp;Oklahoma&nbsp;and South Dakota), Kansas&nbsp;per pupil funding was&nbsp;9.3&nbsp;percent&nbsp;higher&nbsp;than&nbsp;the regional average&nbsp;in 2009&nbsp;but&nbsp;dropped&nbsp;to&nbsp;2.0&nbsp;percent&nbsp;lower than the region&nbsp;in 2017.&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;increased slightly&nbsp;to 0.7 percent&nbsp;above the regional average&nbsp;in 2018,&nbsp;before falling 0.4&nbsp;percent&nbsp;below&nbsp;in 2019.&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;would have improved compared to other states&nbsp;in 2019 if the Legislature had not reduced&nbsp;KPERS&nbsp;funding to help balance the state general fund budget. Although total school district spending in&nbsp;2019 was $219 million higher than in 2018, KPERS funding dropped $115 million. In 2020, KPERS funding increased $258 million, and&nbsp;total K-12 spending increased $363 million. As a result, Kansas could make gains on other states&nbsp;when&nbsp;2020&nbsp;data is released, but that will depend on school finance decisions in other states.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1623355023004.jpeg" alt="" />
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 </figure>As the chart above shows, Kansas has&nbsp;been below the U.S. average in per pupil funding for the past two&nbsp;decades&nbsp;but&nbsp;was moving close to the nation until 2009. Funding most states declined&nbsp;for several years&nbsp;after the Great Recession of 2008-09,&nbsp;but Kansas did not replace funding as quickly. The U.S. average recovered by 2016. Kansas was still below inflation-adjusted&nbsp;2009&nbsp;funding in 2019.&nbsp;Regionally,&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;consistently provided higher funding than&nbsp;most&nbsp;neighboring and Plains States&nbsp;during&nbsp;the 2000’s but&nbsp;dropped below the regional average&nbsp;in 2011&nbsp;and generally been slightly above or below the regional average since.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1623355151228.jpeg" alt="" />
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 </figure>In 2019, Kansas ranked fifth in the region, down from second in 2009. Kansas funding increased 15.7 percent from 2009 to 2019 (not adjusted for inflation) compared to a regional average of 26.7 percent. Only Oklahoma had a lower percentage increase of 13.6 percent.&nbsp;Mark Tallman is the associate executive director for advocacy for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

TALLMAN: Report shows KS K-12 per-pupil funding behind nation, region