While the U.S. is one of the most educated countries in the world, it doesn’t provide the same quality elementary school or secondary school education to all students. In many states, more affluent school districts receive a greater amount of funding per student than poorer districts.
Discrepancies between the rich and poor have been exacerbated even more this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. As states decide whether their school districts will have in-person learning this fall, studies show that low-income students will suffer the greatest “learning loss” due to partial or total remote learning. One contributing factor is that people in low-income districts are less likely to have the technological resources they need.
States that provide equitable funding to all school districts can help prevent poor students from having lower graduation rates, lower rates of pursuing higher education and smaller future incomes than their wealthy peers. The difference is dramatic: College graduates have $460 - $1,154 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
Kansas has the 12th most equitable school districts in the U.S. overall, but some districts within the state are fairer than others. To find out where school funding is distributed most equitably, WalletHub scored 280 districts in Kansas based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil. Read on for the district ranking and a complete description of our methodology.
Note: For visual purposes, we included only the top 7 school districts by enrollment from each category. Rank 1 on the “Expenditures Ranking” means highest expenditures and Rank 1 on “Income Ranking” means lowest income.
Most & Least Equitable School Districts in Kansas
| Rank* | School District | Score | Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fort Larned Unified School District 495 | 0.05 | $15,251 | $43,026 |
| 2 | Lincoln Center Unified School District 298 | 0.13 | $13,810 | $49,375 |
| 3 | Riley Unified School District 378 | 0.15 | $11,058 | $61,583 |
| 4 | Skyline Unified School District 438 | 0.3 | $11,452 | $59,750 |
| 5 | Bucklin Unified School District 459 | 0.31 | $12,380 | $55,625 |
| 6 | Peabody-Burns Unified School District 398 | 0.34 | $13,523 | $50,536 |
| 7 | Concordia Unified School District 333 | 0.42 | $14,969 | $44,075 |
| 8 | Osborne County Unified School District 392 | 0.42 | $15,072 | $43,616 |
| 9 | Pike Valley Unified School District 426 | 0.58 | $13,654 | $49,821 |
| 10 | Brewster Unified School District 314 | 0.64 | $12,305 | $56,484 |
| 11 | Northern Valley Unified School District 212 | 0.87 | $15,441 | $41,731 |
| 12 | Mulvane Unified School District 263 | 1.12 | $9,843 | $66,438 |
| 13 | Halstead Unified School District 440 | 1.17 | $10,919 | $62,926 |
| 14 | Lewis Unified School District 502 | 1.18 | $13,176 | $52,917 |
| 15 | Nemaha Central School District 115 | 1.22 | $13,065 | $53,431 |
| 16 | Prairie Hills Unified School District 113 | 1.29 | $11,612 | $58,492 |
| 17 | Fairfield Unified School District 310 | 1.31 | $14,810 | $45,739 |
| 18 | Circle Unified School District 375 | 1.39 | $9,104 | $71,108 |
| 19 | Sublette Unified School District 374 | 1.53 | $12,946 | $52,438 |
| 20 | Riverton Unified School District 404 | 1.53 | $12,556 | $54,167 |
| 21 | Bonner Springs Unified School District 204 | 1.58 | $10,368 | $63,852 |
| 22 | Jefferson County North Unified School District 339 | 1.96 | $11,734 | $59,750 |
| 23 | Sterling Unified School District 376 | 1.97 | $12,647 | $55,700 |
| 24 | South Haven Unified School District 509 | 2.12 | $14,752 | $46,442 |
| 25 | Logan Unified School District 326 | 2.21 | $14,339 | $48,323 |
| 26 | Kismet-Plains Unified School District 483 | 2.24 | $13,957 | $50,035 |
| 27 | Prairie View Unified School District 362 | 2.34 | $13,353 | $52,776 |
| 28 | Kinsley-Offerle Unified School District 347 | 2.47 | $13,960 | $50,150 |
| 29 | Royal Valley School District 337 | 2.63 | $12,358 | $54,440 |
| 30 | Ness City Unified School District 303 | 2.81 | $12,270 | $57,841 |
*1=Most Equitable
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,919 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.
For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.
The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from of the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.