Thank you, Supt. Allison! We have been disappointed to see the Kansas Policy Institute, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, multiple legislators and our governor repeatedly argue that our schools aren’t abiding by the 65% policy, which was first proposed by the CEO of Overstock.com and has been rejected multiple times by experts and state efficiency commissions, largely because it excludes many types of spending that are deemed essential.
“I’ve taken this conversation to business groups and parents over the past several months. They’ve heard the comment that schools are not getting enough money into classrooms. And they are surprised to understand the narrow definition of instruction that excludes many critical school and classroom expenditures…
“Essential elements outside of ‘instruction’ are also quickly listed, including counselors, nurses, school principals, electricity, water, transportation and food service. Business leaders tell me that core operational costs are essential expenditures to support students, classrooms and families, and to provide a safe, effective learning environment.
“Schools are acutely focused on maximizing dollars invested “in the classroom or for instruction.” The Wichita school district spends 88.1 percent of our operating dollars in direct support of students and schools, and 88.3 percent of our staff members are devoted to these same essential priorities.
“There is always room for conversation about how schools can become more efficient. That conversation has been ongoing in Wichita since I arrived six years ago. I’m proud to share examples of strategies we’ve used to maximize dollars devoted to instruction and other mission-critical classroom and school expenditures.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article43503528.html
Also see,
Conclusions and Recommendations
The Commission makes the following recommendations or comments relating to its statutory charge:
…
● The Commission expects the Legislature to repeal the 65.0 percent instruction expenditure public policy goal currently in statute (KSA 2014 Supp. 72-64c01 and 72- 6460 (c)); http://kslegresearch.org/2014CommRpts/K-12-studnt-perform-efficy-comm-cr.pdf
and