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“However, until that time, expect more and more questions about things like tech ed. Expect more questions about what districts can, or can not, live without. As fixed costs — especially utilities and health insurance premiums — continue to rise, districts will get more and more squeezed. “Despite every attempt to put a sunshine spin on school funding, the reality is many schools are struggling with these kinds of issues.” Read more here: http://www.thekansan.com/article/20150918/NEWS/150919349...

“A truce in the education wars isn’t likely any time soon. Kansas is still cash-strapped, a number of lawmakers are innately hostile toward public education, and legal arguments in the long-running school funding case are scheduled for November. “But Brownback does his state no service by picking fights with school districts, as he did when he accused the Garden City School District of a big spending increase that hadn’t occurred. “In fact, the governor’s office frequently puts out incorrect and misleading information regarding schools and funding, stoking the tensions. “It would help if Brownback would acknowledge that schools...

Kansas education advocates are also going to need to be court advocates. The courts are being attacked by legislation and now face the threat of organized campaigns against retention of justices who do not rule as the governor would like them to. “The president of the Kansas Bar Association calls 2016 a ‘defining moment.’ Natalie Haag, of Topeka, serving in the top office since June, is part of a crusade to fight for the independence of the Kansas Supreme Court, which she believes will be threatened at election time. “In November 2016, five of the seven justices will...