Kansas missed the new lowered estimates for December by over $35 million, putting the state in position to have a deficit by the end of the fiscal year. We are concerned that a new education funding formula in this context will have more to do with what we can currently afford than what our children need. Read more about today’s tax numbers here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article52986745.html...
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New funding formula unlikely this year
“‘Following the 2015 repeal of the school finance formula that was replaced with block grants, the expectation should be that the Education Budget committees will be hard at work crafting a new formula,’ says Rep. Barbara Bollier. ‘As a member of that committee, I have been told this is not the case and our committee will not be involved. My suspicion is that solving the school funding puzzle will be delayed until next session because it is an election year and votes on such a bill might expose where many legislators truly stand on the issue, specifically not...
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Leave a Comment K-12 draft report recommends significant changes
“A report prepared for consideration Tuesday by the Kansas Legislature’s committee on K-12 education declares the current testing approach fails students, describes the method of identifying at-risk students as discriminatory and urges state government oversight of school bond proposals before they are placed on a local ballot… “Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat on the K-12 committee, said material and conclusions in the report closely resembled recommendations offered by the Kansas Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that has sought for years to reorganize public education. Dave Trabert, president of KPI, testified to the K-12...
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Leave a Comment A&M past experiences concerning
As we await the Alvarez & Marsal report on efficiencies to be found in Kansas, including Kansas public schools, we think this article is worth another read. “‘They pretty much destroyed the district academically,’ said Ray Cummings, vice president of St. Louis branch of the American Federation of Teachers. ‘We were two points away from accreditation when they brought them in. They had no particular concern about academics. It was just about cut the budget. Cut, cut, cut.’… “Among the cuts enacted was the closing of 16 school buildings. A & M also outsourced the district’s custodial and...
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