Kansas City Unified School District 500Budget & Spending
Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas NCES 2007950
- Total revenue · FY2024
- $420M $419,929,000
- Students enrolled
- 21,132
- Revenue per pupil
- $19,872
- Local share per pupil
- $3,187 15th percentile in KS
Transparency grade C, provisional
Under reviewProvisional grade
Every district starts at a provisional C until its records have been reviewed. This is a starting point, not a finding.
If you work for this district, you can shorten the wait by sending us links to the records you already publish.
NCES F-33 · FY2024
Where the money goes
Operating and capital spending from the federal expenditure survey, rolled up by function.
Aggregate categories only: no individual payees or contracts are shown.
- Instruction
- $232M 53.6% of spending
- Administration
- $33.0M 7.6% of spending
- Per pupil
- $20,511 All functions
- Instruction 53.6%
- Student Transportation 10.5%
- Student Support Services 7.1%
- General Administration 6.2%
- Business & Central Services 5.2%
- Food Services 4.5%
- Instructional Staff Support 4.3%
- Other Support Services 2.7%
- Operations & Maintenance 2.6%
- Capital Outlay 1.8%
- School Administration 1.4%
- Other Programs 0.2%
View the numbers as a table
| Function | Amount | Per pupil | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instruction | $232,490,000 | $11,002 | 53.6% |
| Student Transportation | $45,596,000 | $2,158 | 10.5% |
| Student Support Services | $30,919,000 | $1,463 | 7.1% |
| General Administration | $26,890,000 | $1,272 | 6.2% |
| Business & Central Services | $22,409,000 | $1,060 | 5.2% |
| Food Services | $19,518,000 | $924 | 4.5% |
| Instructional Staff Support | $18,452,000 | $873 | 4.3% |
| Other Support Services | $11,562,000 | $547 | 2.7% |
| Operations & Maintenance | $11,111,000 | $526 | 2.6% |
| Capital Outlay | $7,643,000 | $362 | 1.8% |
| School Administration | $6,088,000 | $288 | 1.4% |
| Other Programs | $770,000 | $36 | 0.2% |
| Total | $433,448,000 | $20,511 | 100% |
NCES F-33 · FY2005–FY2024
How this has changed
Summary Four points on FY2005 to FY2024
- Operating balance and scale In FY2024 the district reported $420M in revenue against $426M in current operating spending. It spent $5.9M more on operations than it took in, a shortfall of 1.4% of revenue. This compares revenue with operating cost only; it is not a fund balance and not an audited result.
- Inflation and real growth Consumer prices rose +60.6% between FY2005 and FY2024. Revenue rose +131.2% and operating spending +162.9% in nominal terms. Revenue outgrew inflation, gaining +43.9% in purchasing power. Operating spending outgrew inflation, gaining +63.7% in purchasing power.
- Enrollment and per-pupil cost Enrollment rose by 692 students, +3.4%. Operating spending per student went from $7,924 to $20,150, +154.3% nominal and +58.3% after inflation.
- Structural takeaway Operating spending grew faster than revenue, by 31.7 percentage points over the period, and real cost per student rose alongside enrollment. These figures describe cost, not performance: the F-33 does not say what a district was funded to do, and this site scores what a district publishes rather than how it spends.
Generated from the figures in the table below, not written by hand and not written by a model. Change the years and it recalculates.
| Measure | FY2005 | FY2024 | Change | Nominal % | Real % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $181,645,000 | $419,929,000 | +$238,284,000 | +131.2% | +43.9% |
| Total expenditure | $171,734,000 | $441,776,000 | +$270,042,000 | +157.2% | +60.2% |
| Revenue per pupil | $8,887 | $19,872 | +$10,985 | +123.6% | +39.2% |
| Students enrolled | 20,440 | 21,132 | +692 | +3.4% | — |
Percent change from each measure's FY2005 level. Dollar figures are nominal as filed; the real column removes inflation using CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, annual average (BLS). The dashed line is that same inflation curve, so a dollar line above it gained purchasing power and one below it lost. It does not apply to enrollment. Hover any point for the underlying number.
100-point rubric
What Kansas City Unified School District 500 needs for an A
-
Public check register
14 ptsEvery disbursement published with payee category, date, amount, and fund, updated at least quarterly.
A check register records where money actually went, rather than where it was budgeted to go.
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Annual financial audit
6 ptsA current Annual Comprehensive Financial Report with the independent auditor opinion attached.
A financial audit confirms the statements are accurately presented. Most states require one, so it is a floor rather than a distinction.
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Performance or efficiency audit
5 ptsAn independent review of whether spending achieved its stated purpose, published within the last three years.
A financial audit asks whether the numbers are right. A performance audit asks whether the money did what it was meant to do, which is the question a taxpayer is usually asking.
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Line-item adopted budget
11 ptsThe adopted budget broken out by function and object code, not a summary presentation.
Function and object detail is what allows classroom and central office spending to be compared.
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Purchasing card transactions
9 ptsPurchasing and credit card transaction detail with merchant category, date, and amount.
Card purchases sit outside the standard purchase-order process, so separate disclosure is what makes them reviewable.
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Payment history by category
9 ptsCumulative payments grouped by spending category, covering at least one full fiscal year.
Category totals show concentration and recurring commitments that individual payments do not.
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Machine-readable data
9 ptsFinancial data offered as CSV, XLSX, JSON, or an open API rather than scanned images.
A scanned PDF is technically public and practically difficult to analyse. Open formats make review possible.
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Compensation schedule
7 ptsCurrent salary schedules and aggregate administrator compensation bands, including stipends.
Payroll is the largest line in most district budgets, so schedule-level disclosure covers the bulk of spending.
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Bond and capital disclosure
7 ptsBond program spending reported against the specific projects voters approved, with remaining balances.
Bond funds are borrowed against future taxes and authorised for a named project list, so reporting against that list closes the loop.
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Board minutes and agendas
7 ptsMinutes and agenda packets posted together with the financial exhibits that were voted on.
The vote and its attachment are what connect a decision to the money it moved.
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Contracts posted
6 ptsExecuted contracts and amendments above the district bid threshold, posted in full.
A payment shows the amount. The contract shows what was promised in return.
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Direct download, no request
6 ptsCore financial records download directly, with no records request, login, or fee.
Publishing a record and releasing it on request are different levels of disclosure.
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Published records process
4 ptsA public records page naming the responsible officer, the statutory timeline, and any fees.
A documented process tells a requester what to expect before they file.
No items have been checked yet. These fill in as each record is located and verified.