“Scott Frank, the audit division’s director, will offer the refresher course on the audit. ‘It’s a very strong, statistically significant relationship,’ Frank said. “That study is unlikely to sway legislators like Rep. Jerry Lunn. He is an Overland Park Republican on the student success committee who took note of a $300 million increase in K-12 spending in the past three years and simultaneous decline in Kansas students’ performance on NAEP exams. In the past few years, Kansas’ scores on reading and math tests have fallen closer to national averages. “Lunn said it didn’t make sense for the education...
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Tax cuts costly
“His strategy only devoured state budget resources and chewed through dollars intended for public schools, highways, social services and other vital state programs. “The reality is that states faring better than Kansas weren’t force-fed income-tax cuts as a way to generate job growth. States are rebounding post-Great Recession without the extremist policies that resulted in Kansas’ self-inflicted budget crisis.” Read more here: http://m.gctelegram.com/opinion/craving-truth-kansas-recent-job-figures-fall-short-of-a/article_ae11c7d5-03da-590d-9fd5-3fdb2ca7531e.html...
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Leave a Comment State financial turmoil likely to pose funding challenges for SMSD
“The financial turmoil that continues to churn in Topeka as the next legislative session approaches is likely to again pose funding challenges to the Shawnee Mission School District, Superintendent Jim Hinson told the Board of Education Monday.” Read more here: http://pvpost.com/2015/11/24/smsd-board-approves-legislative-platform-as-superintendent-renews-warning-about-potential-for-withheld-funds-44976...
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Leave a Comment Yes, funding matters
The Kansas Policy Institute, the Koch-funded local “stink tank” affiliate of the State Policy Network which pushes the ALEC agenda including privatization of public schools recently sent a piece to legislators claiming that there is no correlation between funding and achievement in schools. There are multiple things wrong with their analysis (including their focus on the NAEP “proficient” category when people in the field understand that NAEP “proficiency” doesn’t equate to what is commonly understood as “proficient” but instead to a high level of achievement), but most troubling is the fact that they are feeding legislators the line...
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