“Another key ALEC pursuit involves shifting state support for public education to private operations that don’t face the same accountability as their public counterparts. “Lawmakers whining over the recent court decision on school funding are following ALEC marching orders on that front, as well, as there’s a game plan for targeting justices who don’t fall in line. “The high court’s job is to interpret the law. Kansas law requires the state to provide adequate, equitable educational opportunities for all students. “Brownback’s forces don’t care, and will gin up attacks on justices up for retention in hopes of eventually...
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Rooker explains proper response to Gannon
Here’s a good explanation of what’s wrong with the budget bill the House passed and the legislative response to Gannon from Rep. Melissa Rooker’s newsletter. Legislative Power to Appropriate The governor has the authority to make unilateral cuts to the budget if the balance is projected to fall below zero. However, this bill expands that authority if the ending balance falls below $100 million, which is essentially unlimited power since we are currently there. We granted this to the governor last summer, but included a provision to protect K-12 funding from those cuts. This time, the bill does...
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Leave a Comment Senate President declares no rush on school funding formula
Senate President Susan Wagle said there is no rush in writing a new school funding formula. We wish they would stop spending so much time on unimportant and harmful education policy and focus on creating a new formula which meets the needs of our students. We would also like to point out that the old formula was repealed a year ago, and more progress should have been made by now. “But the president of the Kansas Senate said Friday that it’s unrealistic to expect lawmakers to devise a new school funding system in the remaining weeks of the...
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Leave a Comment Legislators and governor need to fix school funding
“The governor and conservative lawmakers will bluster, accusing judges of ‘a temper tantrum’ and the like, but they brought this trouble on themselves and the state. “The move to block-grant funding last year saddles school districts with a fixed amount of funding for two years, regardless of developments such as an influx of at-risk students or variations in local property taxes. Lawmakers compounded the problem by allocating less for education than they knew would be needed.” Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article59874106.html...
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