Kansas City News Blog

Bruce Baker thought he escaped Kansas' school funding wars when he moved to the east coast to teach at Rutgers University. But a couple of weeks ago, the school finance expert got sucked back in by Kansas Liberty, the self-professed "fair and factual" news source that's partially owned by conservative state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook.

Kansas Liberty cited a study released earlier this month -- "The Relationship Between School Funding and Student Achievement in Kansas Public Schools" -- in which Kansas State University economics professor Florence Neymotin claims court-ordered increases in school funding resulted in "little evidence of improving student outcomes as measured by test scores" but did show "(weak) evidence" of improving graduation rates.

Kansas Liberty picked up the story and spun it.

"Despite the fact that by every recognized measure, Kansas schools already were near or at the top in most state rankings, the court imposed spending increases that are now helping push the state into a deep budget crisis."

Kansas Liberty continued: "The court's only evidence was a discredited school audit that had been dismissed by the Legislature, which had commissioned it, as impractical and dangerously expensive. ... Critics condemned the audit -- and the court's imposition of a funding increase based on it -- saying in most cases there was no provable relationship between funding and achievement."

I read this and immediately e-mailed Baker. I was too late. He'd already seen it, commented on it and blogged about it.

Baker's head nearly exploded after reading about that "massive increase of school funding in Kansas."

"What massive infusion?" Baker asked. He explained that Kansas school funding didn't grow. It stayed flat.

"If Kansas spending didn't grow, you can't statistically test whether the growth in spending had a big effect on outcomes," Baker says. "It's that simple."

Kansas also fell behind national averages for funding, he says. Still, test scores went up.

Baker calls Neymotin's study "crude." Not only is Neymotin testing something that doesn't exist, she's also testing a time period before the court order went into effect.

The tricky thing about a smarty pants like Baker is he uses statistics to back up his claims. I won't bombard you with them, but read this if you want the blood-and-guts details.

And don't get Baker started on school finance causing the budget crisis.

"Or could it just be the economy ... stupid," Baker writes. "States are facing large budget deficits. That's just how it is right now."

Besides, Baker says Kansas lawmakers screwed the state when they cut the general fund mill levy from 35 mills to 20 mills in the late '90s. "It's like they took their investment portfolio and completely imbalanced it," Baker says. "They took it out of the safe investments. So that created the mess."

Baker argues that if the Legislature hadn't cut the mill levy, then the state would have had $418 million per year for school revenue.

"Gee ... that might have provided a good buffer," Baker argues on Kansas Liberty's Web site. "Go figure. Easier to blame those damn activist judges and that one discredited study though. Right? Perhaps a little more attention to the details of history and a few real numbers would help your reporting be somewhat more than complete schlock. I hold out no high expectations for the future."

Kansas Liberty also might want to check its claims that Kansas schools rank near the top of state rankings. On December 4, U.S. News & World Report released its rankings of the Best High Schools in the nation. Kansas tied with South Dakota for 40th. Missouri ranked 38th. Only two schools in Kansas received silver rankings: Blue Valley North High School in Johnson County and Sumner Academy of Arts & Science. No schools received a gold rating. Thirty-four Kansas schools received bronze medals (none in Johnson County).

Missouri actually ranked higher than Kansas -- 38th overall -- with five silver medal and 36 bronze medal schools.

Ranking below Missouri? Now that hurts. -- Justin Kendall