A Blog on School Board Spending by the Kansas Association of School Boards

School boards putting more funds in classroom as share of administrative costs decreases

School boards across Kansas are putting a larger percentage of funds into the classroom and away from administration, according to a new analysis by KASB.

The analysis shows recent statements in the media alleging dramatic increases in administrative costs are inaccurate.

From 2005 to 2015, the portion of school funding spent on administration has decreased nearly 11 percent, from 9.2 percent of funding to 8.2 percent of funding. In fact, if administrative expenses had stayed at the 2005 percentage of funding, that would have cost the state an additional $50 million.

Administrative spending also fell behind other measurements of spending over the 10-year period.

Overall spending on instruction increased 40 percent, while administrative costs increased 24 percent. Per pupil spending on instruction increased 34 percent, while per pupil spending on administration increased 18 percent. Again, even though total dollars spent on education has increased over the past 10 years, the percentage share that goes to administration has decreased.

The KASB analysis is consistent with an earlier KASB report that shows since 1998, school districts have increased positions that are involved in the direct instruction of students by more than 16 percent while decreasing general administrative positions by nearly 17 percent.

During challenging budget times, school boards are working hard to ensure that tax dollars are spent as much as possible on the direct instruction of students.