WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A report from the Kansas Association of School Boards shows that the state’s performance on national tests rose and fell with funding.

The group says student performance on national math and reading tests improved between 2003 and 2007 before leveling off until 2011, when it began to fall.

The board’s analysis, which was presented to lawmakers by association advocacy director and lobbyist Mark Tallman during a meeting, says the performance trend follows funding patterns. The report says auditors were more than 99 percent confident a relationship exists between spending and performance outcomes.

Kansas State Department of Education deputy commissioner Brad Neuenswander expressed concern over the direction of Kansas test scores, and said that the state is seeing the performance gap widening again between students who can pay for lunch and students who cannot.