Kansas budget woes: School funding? Or the economy, stupid?

Bruce Baker thought he escaped Kansas’ school funding wars when he moved to the east coast to teach at Rutgers University. But a couple of weeks ago, the

school finance expert got sucked back in by Kansas Liberty, the

self-professed “fair and factual” news source that’s partially owned by

conservative state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook.

Kansas Liberty cited a study released earlier this month — “The

Public Schools” — in which Kansas State University economics professor Florence

Neymotin claims court-ordered increases in school funding resulted in “little evidence of improving student outcomes as measured by test

scores” but did show “(weak) evidence” of improving graduation rates.

Kansas Liberty picked up the story and spun it.