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“Betty Arnold, president of the Wichita Unified School District 259 school board, says she has concerns private schools aren’t playing on a level playing field, because many don’t have to publish academic outcomes such as aggregated standardized test scores and graduation rates. “’The lack of accountability is always a huge concern,’ Arnold said. “Many times, she said, her district has seen children arrive from private schools where they fell behind. “’It’s almost as if they’ve lost a year,’ she said, but because only the public schools are held accountable, they “are the ones that get the black eye.'”...

“That is one reason the tax credit program rankles public education advocates. “’It’s only going to provide education to a very small number of students,’ Patrick Woods, president of the Topeka Unified School District 501 school board, said of the program. “Skeptics like Woods argue many private schools engage in ‘cherrypicking’ — choosing the best students, who have natural academic talents and stable, supportive families, and shying away from those who need intensive academic, emotional or other support. “Heather Ousley, of Game On for Kansas Schools, a parental group that argues Kansas is underfunding K-12 education, says it...

“Sheryl Spalding, president of the Johnson County-based Mainstream Coalition and a former Kansas legislator and member of the Blue Valley school board, doesn’t agree. She points to Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution: ‘No religious sect or sects shall control any part of the public educational funds.’ “’And yet they are giving directly to private schools,”’she said. ‘That would seem to fly in the face of what the Kansas Constitution thinks, and has since its inception, is a good idea.’ “Spalding argues tax credits are a mechanism that diverts money from state revenue to something the state wants...

“G.A. Buie, executive director of the United School Administrators of Kansas, said in an e-mail that the governor’s ‘comments are being made as if school districts are not already putting every dollar possible into classroom instruction.’ “Buie said the governor overlooks expenses that are necessary for learning to take place. “’I don’t believe the governor’s office understands what it takes to house, transport, feed, document, assess, counsel, supply, heat/cool and, yes, educate children every day. Almost every dollar spent in a school district directly or indirectly affects instruction,’ he said.” Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/local/education/article31161851.html...