Kansans who care about their local school boards will oppose changes to local elections through the end of this legislative session. “While both of those arguments are undoubtedly true, they are a decoy. The real goal is to change the nature of local leadership. “Right now, in low-turnout local spring elections, reasonable people are elected because extremists do not bother to go to the polls. It just is not on their radar. They have paid little attention to hyper-local races. Meanwhile, good citizen-candidates muster their votes through networking, low-budget advertising and door-to-door campaigning. The winners tend to be...
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Lawrence Superintendent explains concerns with block grant
Lawrence Superintendent Rick Doll explains funding concerns with the block grant in a letter to patrons and staff. “A flat funding system combined with enrollment growth and rising operational costs prompt grave concerns about the district’s ability to maintain high quality educational programs and services. Previous budget cutting measures in the district included closing schools, increasing class sizes, adding participation fees, reducing student support services, decreasing teacher training opportunities and eliminating student transportation options…The board invites parent and community input during this budget planning process. We also encourage you to join the board, administration teachers and staff in...
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Leave a Comment New way to stay informed
Here’s a way to stay informed of what’s going on in Topeka right now. YOUR SCHOOL, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR VOICE Stay in touch with the issues AS THEY HAPPEN and TAKE ACTION. Register for our public schools advocacy network today. No ads, no cost, just information. Parents, teachers, administrators, community members are invited to “Join Us.” to fight for our students and the tradition of strong Kansas public schools. We are teachers, fighting for Kansas students and our public schools. Join Us. Click here: http://www.joinusks.org...
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Leave a Comment Lawrence district looking at budget cuts
“At Monday’s board meeting, Doll said he wanted to make it clear the district is also considering cuts, not just additional property taxes. He said the district’s finance advisory committee was in the process of identifying and recommending ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts’ to the district’s budget. “A new block grant system of funding, signed into law in March by Gov. Sam Brownback, has been estimated to result in a $1.6 million hit to the Lawrence district. That figure is not final, though, with the Legislature still working on the state budget.” Read more here: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/apr/27/doll-response-state-budget-cuts-will-also-include-/ ...
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