“A three-judge district court panel ruled Friday that the state’s new block grant system of funding schools is unconstitutional, and it ordered the state to immediately pay nearly $49.6 million to local school districts to restore money that was cut from the current year’s budget when lawmakers passed a new school funding system in March. “The state also will have to add that much each of the next two years, the court said. “The court also struck down key provisions of the new law that change the way certain kinds of ‘equalization’ aid for general operations and maintenance...
Read more
Leave a Comment Blog
Legislature pulls back on support for CTE
Here’s another cut to education. “Kansas school districts this year will get less than half the monetary incentive they expected from the state as part of a 2012 initiative to enhance career and technical education. “A memo sent to school districts from the Kansas State Department of Education last week says the per-pupil payment for students who obtained certificates in certain high-demand fields will be ‘approximately $450’ for the just-completed school year. That’s down from a $1,000 per-student incentive promised in the initial legislation… “[SKDE’s Dale] Dennis said the incentives were cut because ‘the money wasn’t there’ in...
Read more
Leave a Comment Judges not fooled by funding maneuvers
“The judges fortunately were not fooled. ‘Though promoted as a change and improvement in K-12 funding,’ they wrote, the new law amounts to ‘no more than a freeze’ on school districts’ operational funding. “Any apparent increases, they added, stem from a legislative maneuver to add the state’s contribution to teacher pension funds to the block grants, and falsely claim that money as operational funding.” Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article25624801.html...
Read more
Leave a Comment Wagle criticizes Gannon decision
Here’s how Senate President Susan Wagle responded to the court decision supporting better funding for our schools and the children they serve. “It appears Washington, D.C., isn’t the only place courts have decided to draft their own laws and ignore the will of the people,’ Wagle said. ‘Topeka judges aren’t legislators, and it’s time they stopped auditioning for the role in their rulings.'” Read more here: http://cjonline.com/news/2015-06-26/shawnee-county-district-court-panel-strikes-down-kansas-school-finance-law-attorney...
Read more
Leave a Comment