Yesterday Game On testified against a new proposed school funding formula introduced in the House Education Committee. We realize the bill is in its early stages but we have a lot of concerns about it. “Right now as the bill is written, it really hasn’t included any parents, or educators or school boards in the decision making process,” said Erin Gould, a member of ‘Game on for Kansas.’ “What do you call a classroom, you know, what are the costs that are involved in that classroom? Does class size make a difference in a classroom?” wonders Jim Freeman,...
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Legislators comment in Senate Ways and Means hearing
Today KASB’s Scott Rothschild tweeted from the Senate Ways and Means hearing on the A&M efficiency consultant’s education recommendations. We found the following tweets quite enlightening. Superintendents and school board members, if you would care to educate Senators Masterson, Melcher, Fitzgerald, Denning and Arpke on budget issues you face, parents of Kansas school children would be grateful. Kansas parents if you are constituents of these Senators, we would also like you to share your experiences and your awareness of the precariousness of the Kansas budget with them. Rothschild: Masterson, Melcher disagree with A&M statement that there were cuts...
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Leave a Comment Uncertainty clouds recommendation to tap reserve funds
“’I don’t think any districts just want to sit on money. But we’ve been through a period of great uncertainty financially in this state going back to the Great Recession,’ Tallman said. “’School board members by and large tend to be fiscally conservative people. They really do,’ he added. ‘And I think their tendency is if we’re in kind of a risky environment, that natural tendency of let’s save to be prepared because we don’t know what’s going to happen.’” Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article60645616.html...
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Leave a Comment Legislature needs to meet obligation to fund schools
“The original House and Senate budgets committed all but about $6 million of the state’s expected general fund revenue, but state education officials estimate it would cost about $70 million this year and $39 million next year to comply with the court’s ruling. Where will that money come from? “Last year, legislators instituted a block-grant system that essentially keeps school funding flat for two years. During that time, they said they planned to write a new school finance formula. That was almost a year ago, but there appears to have been little progress on that task. Faced with...
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