Financing

Over the next five years, the state of Kansas will invest an additional half-billion dollars in its K-12 schools as the result of legislation signed into law earlier this year. “The amount of money that we have committed to spend is, at least, approaching an appropriate level,” says Kansas Rep. Melissa Rooker, noting that legislators already had increased state funding by $300 million during the 2017 session.

Finding that “appropriate level,” not only in the eyes of the Legislature but also the state Supreme Court, has dominated discussion in Topeka for the past several years. Last October, following passage of legislation in 2017, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state still had not proven the constitutionality of its finance system.

As a student, New Mexico senator Michael Padilla had to mop floors, clean tables, and set up chairs in order to receive his lunch. This type of “lunch shaming” is what New Mexico’s SB 374 or Hunger Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act seeks to eliminate from public schools.

The state with the lowest average teacher pay in the nation has a new plan to boost yearly salaries by $8,000. South Dakota’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students released its final recommendations in November. Led by legislators, the task force included participation by teachers, school administrators, and state fiscal and education leaders.

During the recession many states had to make hard decisions regarding higher education funding and tuition at public universities. According to the 2013-2014 Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West report by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, the enrollment-weighted average tuition and fees for residents and non-residents was higher for four-year institutions over previous years; while lower at two-year institutions.