Kansas schools could be short $70 million

A Kansas education official says the state could find itself $70 million short of meeting its current public school funding obligations.

Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis said Friday that school districts across Kansas are seeing higher student enrollments. Property values also are lower for 2009 than for 2008.

It’s more bad news for the state budget.

Kansas distributes aid to its public schools based on their enrollments. It uses a statewide property tax levy to provide some support, but general tax revenues are supposed to pick up the rest.

The state already has cut per-pupil aid to school districts 4.8% this year to keep the state budget balanced. The new figures mean officials might have to consider further per-pupil reductions.