“Most anybody involved with or simply interested in either education or state politics would be hard-pressed to forget the late-night sessions that concluded the Kansas Legislature in 2014.
“Educators wearing red shirts filled the gallery the first weekend in April while lawmakers suspended one rule after another in order to insert unvetted and undiscussed policy changes into the school funding package. Teacher tenure was tossed out, districts were given authority to hire so-called alternative teachers with zero teacher training, and scholarships were created using public tax dollars that would allow students to attend private schools.
“These policies overshadowed apparently more mundane components of the same legislation such as codifying the Rose capacities, which established ‘minimal standards for providing adequate education,’ according to a summary of the legislation. After stating all accredited schools will teach subjects and areas of instruction as determined by the state board of education, legislators adopted specific goals for what they expected Kansas students to possess…
“Yet just this week, Sen. Steve Abrams, R-Arkansas City and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, expressed frustration that lawmakers would have a difficult time devising a new school finance formula if they didn’t know what they expected from schools…Abrams is assigned to yet another committee that is tasked with scrutinizing K-12 student outcomes and school finance.
“He also has been in the Legislature since 2009 and was present the day votes were cast on these goals in 2014. For the record, he voted ‘no.’
“We would suggest the more appropriate question to ask is: How can we trust legislators with developing a school finance formula if they can’t recall legislation that passed less than two years ago?”
Read more here: http://www.hdnews.net/opinion/editorials/school-outcomes/article_299eda8f-4523-55d1-ae55-7b6703d8faca.html