The new Kansas Assessment scores will be released soon. Here’s information from KASB on what they mean. “Kansas has made its reading and math tests much tougher by raising expectations, which means that performance will look lower. The new tests measure more than just knowing the basic facts of reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, the tests are designed to tell if a student is learning to think critically and solve more advanced problems – to handle the more complex demands of college, technical education and the workplace. “These tests are different from the types of tests students have...
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Constitutionally adequate isn’t good enough; neither is unconstitutional
Perfectly said in Texas, applies equally to Kansas. “Constitutionally adequate” isn’t good enough, and unconstitutional really isn’t good enough. “The state’s lawyers downplayed the importance of money to a first-class education in their presentation to the state justices. ‘Money isn’t pixie dust,’ Craft said. ‘Funding is no guarantee of better student outcomes.’ “This disbelief in the necessity of money in creating a first-class education system is a common argument. Especially from those who propose funneling money away from public schools and into school vouchers for use at pricey private schools. Or who readily sprinkle the same ‘pixie dust’...
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Leave a Comment Ohio charter school mess
So far, this can’t happen in Kansas because we have stricter rules on charters. Kansas’ ALEC legislators and their supporters would like to change that. And now we have corporate tax credit scholarships that will also funnel money to private schools that would otherwise go to the state general fund with absolutely no requirements for fiscal or academic accountability. Is this what we want for Kansas school children? “‘It clicked for me. Aha! This is self-dealing. That’s why we are massively overpaying for the lease,’ says Sinoff, who resigned with the other board members this summer. He adds,...
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Leave a Comment Separation of powers threatened by attacks on courts
“Despite the Legislature’s coercive tactics, Hendricks ruled on Wednesday that taking away the Supreme Court’s power to appoint chief judges violated the separation of powers doctrine, as well as the Kansas Constitution, which says, ‘The supreme court shall have general administrative authority over all courts in the state.’ “As noted at the outset, the governor and Legislature probably were not surprised by this outcome. The highly unusual act of tying the outcome of this case to the judicial budget was intended to challenge the powers of the state court… “Separation of powers is a core principle of democratic...
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