We’re not applauding. A few quick thoughts, based on reports from the signing ceremony, which took place in the governor’s office and was attended by top legislative leaders. • Brownback downplayed the part of the bill that gets rid of automatic due process hearings for teachers. That will now be a decision for local school boards, he said. “There’s a lot of local control in this bill,” he said. There seems to be some question about how much leeway school boards will have. But apart from that, the idea of the governor — or any Kansas Republican leader...
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Milwaukee voucher school leader indicted on mail fraud and money laundering charges
Is this the kind of choice for low-income students we want in Kansas? The Kansas legislature just opened the door. “The head of a former Milwaukee voucher school has been indicted by a federal grand jury on counts of mail fraud and money laundering. . . While L.E.A.D.E.R. was part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which allows low-income children to attend private schools on publicly funded vouchers, the state Department of Public Instruction issued payments to the school totaling more than $1 million over two years, according to state records.” http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/112892364.html#ixzz2zX6uyUMz ...
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Leave a Comment Helpful recap of passage of education finance bill from Republican Rep. Stephanie Clayton
Here’s a helpful recap of the passage of the education finance bill by Republican Rep. Stephanie Clayton: On Friday, April 4th, the Kansas House passed an excellent bill that would have brought the most money to Johnson County Schools, allowed us to increase our Local Option Budget, and provided for some other minor policy changes. This bill was a bill I was proud to support, and that sentiment was mirrored by Governor Brownback, who visited the House GOP caucus to urge us to support the bill prior to the vote. This bill was unique in the fact that...
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Leave a Comment Eagle editorial pans elimination of teacher due process
“The amendment eliminating due-process rights for K-12 teachers was necessary to assure passage of the larger school-funding bill, according to some conservatives. If so, you’d expect proponents at least to be clear on what the provision did, both before and after the vote. No doubt committee hearings would have helped, but lawmakers skipped that step. The rush job of a bill has riled up many more Kansans than just public school teachers for multiple reasons, with no guarantee that it will satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court’s narrow order to restore equalization funding between wealthy and poor school districts.”...
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