Governor Kathleen Sebelius announced yesterday Arkansas City is one of the 16 highly “Resource-Effective” school districts in Kansas, following a resource management study by Standard & Poor’s in New York. The districts are particularly effective in using their financial resources to optimize student academic achievement, the governor said.

The 16 districts identified by Standard & Poor’s as Highly Resource-Effective are: Arkansas City, Baldwin City, Geary County, Halstead, Hays, Hesston, Lincoln, Macksville, Nickerson, Renwick, Rock Creek, Scott County, Spearville, Stafford, Vermillion and Wamego.

The study was performed in an effort to help the state of Kansas maximize how it spends money on public schools. Gov. Sebelius said the Standard & Poor’s completed the first step in an effort designed to help make Kansas school districts more effective and accountable.

“We made an investment in our schools this year. But with that investment must come increased accountability,” Gov. Sebelius said. “Parents and students expect schools to get that money into classrooms. And taxpayers deserve schools that use every dollar wisely. We’ve identified 16 Kansas school districts that should serve as models for how to spend every education dollar effectively.”

Officials from the state and Standard and Poor’s said they hope these Highly Resource-Effective districts will serve as models for other districts in Kansas, which may be searching for ways to maximize their resources.

The goal of the study is to help Kansas identify those districts that are particularly effective in using their financial resources to increase student achievement (i.e., resource-effective), and then to analyze these districts’ management practices in the allocation of key resources, such as money and staff.

Compared to the state average, Arkansas City spends more on classroom instruction and less on administration. The emphasis on spending in Arkansas City is on instruction. The district spends 71.9 percent of core spending per student on instruction, compared to the state average of 69.9 percent. The district spends only 6.9 percent on administration, contrasted to the state average of 12.3 percent.

Local taxpayers contribute much less than the state average for education. The percentage of total revenue from local sources for Arkansas City is 20.3 percent, compared to the state average of 34.7 percent. Arkansas City also spends more than $1,000 less than the state average on core spending per student.

Kansas commissioned Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services in March to perform the analysis, and the study was paid for by The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Standard & Poor’s determined resource effectiveness by analyzing the relationship between student performance on Kansas’ math and reading assessments, the percentage of a school district’s economically disadvantaged students and the level of district spending.

The identification of the 16 Highly Resource-Effective school districts is the first step in Standard & Poor’s multiphase resource management study. Standard & Poor’s will further analyze a subset of districts from among the 16 recognized yesterday and produce both district-level reports and a statewide resource management report in the coming months, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office.

Last month Standard & Poor’s identified 22 Kansas school districts for significantly narrowing the achievement while simultaneously raising achievement. Arkansas City ranked 11th of the 22 districts. Arkansas City was the only district identified as a Highly Resource-Effective district that also narrowed the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students. (Click for related press release.)