Kansas schools audit: 9% of bilingual spending examined violates state law

(The Sentinel) – A recent report from the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit found roughly 9% of the $4 million in expenditures examined in detail did not comply with state law.

LPA reviewed 25 districts for the 2024-25 school year, finding they spent $36 million from their bilingual funds, 96% of which was spent on salaries and benefits, and, “of the subset of expenditures we reviewed in detail, we identified nearly $400,000 that were not compliant with state law,” auditors wrote.

State Law requires any spending from the bilingual fund to be “directly attributable” to a bilingual program. This includes all funds deposited or transferred into the bilingual fund. However, state law does not define “directly attributable.”

The 25 districts LPA chose represent 54% of all English-learners in Kansas.

According to district records, of the $36 million the 25 districts spent from their bilingual funds, $35 million was for salaries and benefits. A little over $1 million went to professional services such as training or interpretation, as well as supplies like books and office supplies. A similar 2020 audit found that districts spent 97% of their bilingual funds on staff salaries and benefits.

LPA found — of the $4 million expenditures reviewed in detail — almost 10% did not comply with state law.

“Of the 341 expenditures we examined in detail, 74 expenditures (22% of the total number of expenditures we reviewed) were not directly attributable to a bilingual program,” auditors wrote. “This represented about $385,000 or about 9% of the $4 million we evaluated for compliance. Twelve of the 25 districts we evaluated had at least 1 expenditure we determined to not be directly attributable to a bilingual program. All the expenditures we reviewed in the other 13 districts appeared to be compliant with state law.”

Some payroll expense may be for general education, not bilingual services

The LPA found that several districts paid at least part of a teacher’s base salary from bilingual funds.

“Some districts paid for base salaries for regular classroom teachers from the bilingual fund,” auditors wrote. “Generally, in these districts, they paid for a percentage of a regular classroom teacher from the bilingual fund based on the percentage of English learners in the classroom. For example, if 10% of the students in a teacher’s 3rd grade classroom were English learners, then they paid for 10% of that teacher’s salary from the bilingual fund. We did not consider these directly attributable to a bilingual program because paying regular classroom teachers would occur even if the district did not have a bilingual program.”

Still, some of the salaries the audit considered directly attributable may not fund additional services for English language learners, but rather general education for all students.

Marc Woofter, a retired superintendent now serving as Project Lead at the Kansas School Board Resource Center, says bilingual funding should support additional services.

“Simply allocating bilingual funds to pay a portion of an ESOL-endorsed teacher’s salary does not necessarily mean that students are receiving any additional or different instruction than students in a classroom without an ESOL-endorsed teacher.”

The Sentinel and KSBRC are both owned by Kansas Policy Institute.

Nearly all districts examined reported providing certain English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) services, but the audit did not review those responses. Also, unlike at-risk services, state law does not require bilingual funding to be exclusively used for extra services.

The audit says, “…some districts paid additional stipends to regular classroom teachers who had an ESOL endorsement. In these cases, the district paid for the stipend from the bilingual fund while the rest of the teacher’s salary was paid for through other funding sources.” Having an ESOL endorsement therefore seems to be what makes the expenditure “directly attributable,”not whether actual services were provided.

LPA noted that it evaluated only whether expenditures were directly attributable to a bilingual program, not whether they were necessary or cost-effective.

“This means we determined certain expenditures were directly attributable, even if they may have been unusual in other ways,” auditors wrote. “For example, one district purchased 200 rubber ducks they told us they used as math manipulatives for English learners. Another purchase included leather-bound notebooks for ESOL staff. These expenditures, while unusual on their face, would not exist without a bilingual program. As such, we determined they were directly attributable to a bilingual program. However, we did not evaluate whether those types of purchases were an effective or efficient use of bilingual funds as this was not part of the scope of this audit.”

Auditors found that seven districts, Manhattan-Ogden, Kansas City, Syracuse, Chanute, St. John-Hudson, Holton, and Arkansas City, received more bilingual funding than they spent.

Arkansas City topped the list with 253% more funding than expenditures.

Arkansas City said it is adjusting its accounting procedures to more accurately reflect spending.

“Upon further review, USD 470 currently has approximately $649,237 in ESOL-related staffing costs,” district officials told LPA. “In addition, 63 teachers receive stipends for holding ESOL endorsements, which historically have not been coded to the Bilingual Fund. The district recognizes that eligible ESOL expenditures should be properly identified and recorded within the Bilingual Fund. USD 470 is reviewing personnel assignments and funding sources, making appropriate accounting adjustments for 2026–2027, and establishing an annual reconciliation process to better align bilingual funding with ESOL expenditures.”

Students learning English fare worse on assessments, more likely to drop out

Overall, LPA found English learners’ Kansas English Language Proficiency Assessment scores have remained relatively stable from 2021 through 2025.

However, LPA reports that in recent years, the gap in NAEP scores between English learners and other students has widened in Kansas.

“In the last several years, Kansas English learners had lower graduation rates and higher dropout rates than Kansas students overall,” LPA wrote. “From 2021 through 2023, a smaller percentage of English learners enrolled in a post-secondary institution compared to other students, but the 2 groups had more similar outcomes related to earning a degree or a certificate.”

In its response, the Kansas State Department of Education said those scores were “expected.”

“KSDE recognizes and agrees that the state assessment results for English Learner students are below the performance of their peers and continues to emphasize the importance for success for all students,” the agency wrote. “However, KSDE would note that due to these students being tested on state assessments in a language that they are learning, this trend is expected. Additionally, the finding that KELPA scores have remained relatively stable over time is not unexpected because the population of English learners is not a fixed cohort. Students who demonstrate English proficiency are exited from the program, while newly identified English learners are added each year. Consequently, aggregate KELPA results reflect a continually changing population and may not fully capture the progress made by individual students as they develop English proficiency.”

LPA had three recommendations:

Additionally, KSDE should define “directly attributable” for school districts and include that definition in guidance and training materials. If the Legislature defines directly attributable or makes other changes, the department should update any documents to reflect those changes. 

The Legislature should consider providing clearer direction to school districts regarding how they should spend money from their bilingual funds by revising statutes to either clarify what “directly attributable” means or adding other specific requirements the legislature envisions.

KSDE should expand its current bilingual spending guidance to include all spending from the bilingual fund.