“The original House and Senate budgets committed all but about $6 million of the state’s expected general fund revenue, but state education officials estimate it would cost about $70 million this year and $39 million next year to comply with the court’s ruling. Where will that money come from? “Last year, legislators instituted a block-grant system that essentially keeps school funding flat for two years. During that time, they said they planned to write a new school finance formula. That was almost a year ago, but there appears to have been little progress on that task. Faced with...
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Foster care bill containing voucher passes Senate
There’s a voucher provision built into Sen. Knox’s foster care bill. “The bill would place sole discretion with participating foster parents to determine the educational placement of foster children in their care. If the parent chose not to send a child to public school, the host parent would receive approximately $7,000 annually to cover the cost of private school, online courses or homeschooling. Families volunteering to be part of the CARE initiative wouldn’t receive other state payments for foster care services.” Read more here: http://cjonline.com/news/2016-02-15/kansas-senator-makes-case-experimental-foster-care-program-kansas and updated information here http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article61890032.html. From an article when Knox introduced the same concept last year....
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Leave a Comment Make your voices heard
Great advice from Rep. Clayton: “At this early point in time, it is difficult to tell exactly how the legislature will fix our school funding issue. During this time, it is important that you make your voices heard. This is your money. These are your schools. Your business community. Your children. You have shown the legislature that your voice is loud, and strong, and you have been successful in creating change. (Don’t believe me? See HB 2630, which was withdrawn after swift and strong constituent reaction.) Keep a watch on your legislature, and continue to advocate for your...
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Leave a Comment Budget allows state to delay KPERS contributions
Here’s the latest anti-teacher-morale provision. While teachers are continuing to make their recently-increased KPERS contributions, the state is delaying making theirs until the fall, with 8% interest. Who believes that if they can’t make the payment now, they’ll be able to pay the original amount plus 8% in September? Would you feel confident about your retirement plan if your employer did this? Quoting from Johnson County Educators Facebook, which quoted http://m.ljworld.com/news/2016/feb/15/budget-negotiaors-agree-ku-bonding-language/?templates=mobile “The two chambers also agreed on language that would allow Gov. Sam Brownback to delay an estimated $100 million payment into the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System fund...
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