“Shawnee County school board presidents on Monday said their districts are bracing for midyear cuts to their budgets, and that the fairness and adequacy of state aid for schools is high on their list of concerns. “In their first effort to present a unified, county-wide voice on public education matters to Topeka-area lawmakers, representatives of the five school districts based in Shawnee County said Kansas should fund early childhood education and full-day kindergarten.” Read more here: http://m.cjonline.com/news/2015-12-14/shawnee-county-school-boards-make-k-12-funding-plea-lawmakers#.VnAsYgUbHuo.twitter&gsc.tab=0...
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Hinson says parts of A&M audit offensive
“Have we not been tightening our belts for months?” Hinson said. “And then for the legislature that had the longest session ever to spend all that money [on the excess days in session], and then to spend close to $3 million for this audit, I think that brings concern to all of us about the motivation, about the intent behind that process.” “Hinson said the district had heard nothing about the creation of a new school finance formula, a step that was promised as part of the move to a two-year block grant funding system that was supposed...
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Leave a Comment Rose standards outline requirements
“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...
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Leave a Comment KS Supreme Court hears chief judge selection case
“Kansas Supreme Court justices spent nearly two hours grilling attorneys on both sides of a case that could determine how independent the judicial branch of government is from the legislative and executive branches. “At issue is the case of Judge Larry T. Solomon, chief judge of the 30th Judicial District in Kingman County, who is challenging a 2014 law that changes the way chief judges are selected. “But underlying the case is another new law enacted as part of this year’s judicial budget bill that says if the judicial selection law is overturned, all funding for the judicial...
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