Analysis of the Effects of Kansas School Funding Reform on Standardized Testing Scores

Abstract

Kansas public school funding has been a contentious policy matter for several years. Brownback-era tax cuts reduced funding to a point where absolute funding levels were deemed unconstitutional in both adequacy and fairness. A 2014 Kansas state supreme court ruling lead to policy makers implementing a school funding redistribution policy increasing state aid to low income school districts. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of this 2014 funding redistribution policy on public school district composite ACT Scores. Special attention is paid to school district family income levels when determining the effects of the redistribution. To measure the effects of the redistribution, a series of difference in differences regression models are employed. Results indicate changes in ACT scores decreased post-2014 at the middle-income level but did not change at the aggregate level due to redistribution.