“The survey requested by the Legislature’s Special Committee on Ethics, Elections and Local Government is designed to assess the impact of a bill (HB 2345) introduced last session that would make it illegal for anyone to serve on a local school board if his or her spouse, parent or sibling works at any school district in the state. That’s right; not just the school district governed by the local board, but any school district in the state. So someone whose mother teaches in Hoxie would be barred from serving on the Emporia school board. “Do we also need...
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Westar rate increase leaves districts with less funding for classrooms
“‘When you think about 4 percent, what’s 4 percent, but 21,000 dollars, that’s quite a bit,’ said Valley Center Assistant Superintendent Mike Bonner… ‘”With the block grant, our funds for the next couple years are pretty much locked in and our general fund money…went down about 60,000 dollars this year,’ said Bonner. “That means more tough cuts will have to be made. Bonner says this time they will likely have to dip into the classrooms. “‘Money for supplies, maybe additional resources for our classrooms, is unfortunately where we have to look,’ said Bonner.” Read more here: http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Westar-rate-increase-costly-for-schools-330473381.html?llsms=1240551&c=y...
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Leave a Comment Plaintiffs submit brief in Gannon case
“‘Justice requires this court take immediate action to stop these ongoing efforts by the state to dodge its constitutional obligations,’ [Plaintiffs’ attorney Alan] Rupe said. “Rupe pointed to a 2005 state Supreme Court ruling in a related school funding case, Montoy v. State, in which the high court ordered the Legislature to provide $285 million to schools. “He said avoiding the current case because of ‘legislative discretion,’ would be a denigration of constitutional duties the justices emphasized in the Montoy case. Leaving the legislative or executive branches to decide whether their actions are constitutional is ‘literally unthinkable,’ he...
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Leave a Comment Moody’s issues warning on KS public schools due to block grants
“A national credit rating firm reported Friday adoption in Kansas of a block-grant system for financing public schools to be a ‘negative’ development worthy of scrutiny by investors. “Moody’s Investor Service in New York theorized repeal by the 2015 Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback of the state’s traditional funding mechanism for K-12 schools could disadvantage growing districts because state financing wouldn’t completely take into account expansion of student enrollment… “Bond ratings are used to identify a level of risk associated with investing. Better ratings can command lower interest rates for a school district or government entity issuing bonds.”...
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