Full School-Aid Level Urged

The Kansas State Board of Education will ask lawmakers next year to fund state aid to local school districts at the full $4,492 per-student stipend as required by current state law.

The Legislature had lowered the aid to $3,780 per student in fiscal 2012 due to anemic tax collections.

The board voted 6-3 last week to recommend that the Legislature fund general state aid at mandated levels, while freezing allocations to programs not mandated by law.

“I was elected to this board to advocate for the students of this state,” said trustee Janet Waugh. “The Legislature needs to fund the law.”

The legislative proposals adopted by the board total $1.4 billion.

Funding at the full base per-pupil level would require a total of $474.2 million of state aid, as well as $408.7 million of supplemental general state aid and $450 million of required special education programs.

The board also wants lawmakers to restore $25 million of capital outlay funding for local districts.

The program has not been funded since fiscal 2009, when it was cut to $22.5 ­million.

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Kansas
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