Blog

“School officials across Kansas say they are cutting programs, raising fees and tightening budgets in other ways in response to an overhaul of the state’s education finance system. “In Valley Center, the grass outside school buildings will grow a little higher this year as summer maintenance positions are eliminated. “In Andover, families may write bigger checks at enrollment time. “In Wichita, Maize, Goddard and elsewhere, unfilled teaching positions could mean more crowded classrooms or fewer options for upper-level classes. “A handful of districts, including Haven, have cut their school years short by a week or more, citing budget...

Ad astra per aspera or just ad mediocritas? “Kansas is not required by its constitution to have a perfect education funding system or the nation’s best, an attorney for the state told a district court panel Friday as it considered whether to block the state’s new school finance law. “’It is not the obligation of the state to come up with the best or a perfect system,’ [Attorney Arthur] Chalmers said.” Read more here: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/may/08/education-officials-testify-kansas-school-funding-/...

“The state Education Department’s top finance official testified Friday that no school district in Kansas gets more operating money under Gov. Sam Brownback’s block grant funding system. “After mandatory payments to the state’s public employee retirement fund are factored out, every district that qualified for state equalization payments will get less from the block grants than under the previous school finance formula, Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis testified. “Statewide, ‘the difference is about $53 million (less),’ he said.” Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article20517021.html...

“USD 383 will let 17 teachers and one administrator know that the district intends not to renew their contracts for the 2015-16 school year…At least some of the nonrenewals are attributable to budget cuts. USD 383 officials are trying to figure out what can be kept and what can go as the board decides on cutting between $2 million and $4 million from the district’s budget. “The teachers receiving nonrenewal notices are Erin Allen, a Bergman Elementary kindergarten teacher; Alison Anderson, a fourth-grade physical education teacher at Bluemont Elementary; Carol Bachofer, a gifted education facilitator; Tom Brosius, a...