A Kansas legislative committee studying options for K-12 funding has run into a problem, reports The Topeka Capital-Journal. As the committee decides how to fund schools, they have competing research trying to influence them. Rival interest groups are flaunting a clash of studies to promote their positions. First there’s the Kansas Policy Institute, a conservative think tank in Wichita. This group is pushing a report that shows how the current at-risk student program has failed to close the academic gap between poor and wealthy students. Then there’s the Kansas Association of School Boards. Their report shows a definite link between funding of schools and student performance.
The 15-member committee’s task is to lay the foundation of a new school finance formula.
The next meeting, on Dec. 9th, will spotlight the positions of the rival interest groups.