“The underlying idea behind this legislation is that somehow these school board members are not making decisions that are best for students but instead for their relatives who work for local school districts. Applying that same logic to the Legislature would render it empty, because everyone is most likely related to someone in the state who works in an industry affected by lawmakers’ decisions. “Though the bill was tabled last session, it’s likely to come up again next session. Too many lawmakers listen to lobbyists who want to route public education money to private education, and they are...
Read more
Leave a Comment Blog
Education, Inc. viewing in Wichita November 12th
We’ve seen this film and highly recommend it. It’s especially timely now to watch what happened to Douglas County, Colorado schools, and how the attack started with a school board takeover. Thursday, November 12 at 6:00pm College Hill United Methodist Church 2930 E 1st St N, Wichita, Kansas 67214 Privatizing schools isn’t the answer. All children deserve a good education; get informed and help save our public schools. Vote for candidates who support free and open public education, regardless of their political affiliation. This hour-long movie you will begin to find out how for-profit corporations are forming charter...
Read more
Leave a Comment School board witch hunt
Exactly! “In an anti-educator witch hunt, a legislative committee is trying to identify school board members whose spouses or relatives work for school districts anywhere in the state or who do business with a district or the state – as if a bill to keep such people off local boards hadn’t been justifiably criticized and killed early this year. Local boards already use recusal to deal with potential conflicts of interest. Such sweeping new restrictions on board membership would be a big problem, especially in rural districts. This is more Statehouse meddling in local matters. It’s also hypocritical,...
Read more
Leave a Comment Block grants a bad recipe part 2
“School block grants are a direct result of the state’s financial crisis. With revenue dropping as a consequence of unaffordable tax cuts, the switch to block grants provided a way to shut off increases for schools. Yes, as the chart shows, the amount for KPERS, capital improvement aid (buildings), capital outlay aid, and local option budget aid (mostly property tax relief) has grown. But the remaining state aid–the money that is used for classrooms–has declined. “If Kansas lawmakers want more money to go to classrooms, they should put more money there. The current block grant setup does not...
Read more
Leave a Comment