We are very disappointed that the governor and legislative leaders keep using the “in the classroom” argument, though it has been rejected by the two efficiency commissions that looked at it. It is being used to cast doubt on the need for school funding and is irresponsible. “Brownback has previously complained that districts aren’t spending 65 percent of their operating budgets in the classroom, a goal once championed by the founder of Overstock.com. “But there is no research showing a relationship between the 65 percent threshold and improved student outcomes. Even a school efficiency task force that Brownback...
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Winfield Daily Courier: court can’t close its eyes to need for suitable funding
12/29/2015 The Winfield Daily Courier: Courier Views “The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld its own constitutional authority. By ruling against a law that would have diminished that authority, the court told the legislature to stay in its place. Several new conservative voices, including those of Justice Caleb Stegall and House Speaker Ray Merrick, have implied that the court, too, should stay in its place. “Without being specific, they suggest the principle of separation of powers should keep the courts from ‘interfering’ with school funding. “This might be considered consistent. “But when it comes to the Constitution’s requirement for ‘suitable’...
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Leave a Comment Ohio district sues state board for money lost to charters
We continue to watch how the charter experiment is going in Ohio. “In its resolution, the Claymont board said, ‘Charter schools as a group in Ohio demonstrate low academic performance compared to traditional schools, and … the fraud and corruption in charter schools, as reported repeatedly in the public media, has made Ohio the laughing-stock throughout the nation.'” Read more here: http://m.timesreporter.com/article/20151217/NEWS/151219406...
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Leave a Comment Cherry Picking Data, Tricksters & the Assault on Kansas Public Education
Thank you for putting this together, Marcel Harmon. We’re working on this defense. “Governor Brownback, his ultra-conservative allies in the Kansas legislature and the Kansas Policy Institute (KPI) have been fairly bold in their misrepresentation of data, in general and specifically in their attacks on public education. Likely they vary as to how explicitly they recognize their own data misrepresentation, with some believing their misrepresentations to be true and others justifying their actions through their end goals (one being the privatization of public education). In all cases their beliefs and actions are reinforced through self-imposed isolation from those...
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