By Quinn O’Hara

 A recent report from the Kansas Division of Post Audit analyzed 20 Kansas public school districts spending of funds set aside to benefit at-risk students and found that nearly half of all allotted funds were misspent by those districts. The audit looked at the 2021-2022 school year and was ordered to follow up on similar patterns originally discovered in 2019. The new audit found a negligible improvement from the one performed in 2019. Of the 20 schools listed, Wichita Public Schools had the largest percentage of misused funds. Roughly 80% of the $1.8 million in funds given to the district for the benefit of at-risk students never made it back to the students and was instead spent mostly on adult education programs.