Kansas: $2 billion increase for significant academic improvement in public schools

Improving Kansas’ public schools could cost the state as much as $2 billion more a year according to a new report.

The broad conclusions about the state’s overall spending on schools are in line with arguments from four school districts that sued the state over education funding in 2010. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the more than $4 billion a year the state spends on aid to its public schools isn’t sufficient under the Kansas Constitution.

The report outlined three scenarios for improving student performance, and the least expensive would cost $451 million more a year, an increase of about 10 percent. The most ambitious option – boosting the graduation rate and vastly improving student scores on standardized tests – would result in the $2 billion increase.