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KS Senate takes scholarship funds from public colleges, shifts to private

“Senate Republicans rallied around Salina Sen. Tom Arpke’s strategy to cut $5.3 million in aid from universities supervised by the Kansas Board of Regents, including Kansas State University and The University of Kansas, and award that money to independent colleges operating in the state… “[Sen. Vicki] Schmidt said the Senate position on college financial aid reflected Arpke’s dislike of public education. “’It’s just spite,’ Schmidt said. ‘The loser in this are the students.’” Read more here: http://cjonline.com/news/state/2015-03-28/senate-picks-winners-losers-among-kansas-college-students From KNEA: Senator Vicki Schmidt (R-Topeka) offered an amendment on the Senate floor to remove this provision. The amendment failed on a...
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Block grant bill fails to solve problems

We don’t believe the block grant bill provides certainty and stability. The funds promised in the bill have yet to be appropriated, operating funds are fixed for 2 years though our student bodies and costs to our districts are not, and there is no indication of what a new formula will look like or whether our legislature can even manage to pass one. The bill also can’t be separated from the fact that the reason they are willing to talk about a new formula is that they can’t fund the one we have with the current revenue stream....
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Game On speakers share motivation and hope

Thank you to Rep. Melissa Rooker and Rep. Jarrod Ousley for starting off the final leg of our walk on Monday and to each of our speakers at the press conference. Here are the words some of them shared. (Some spoke without written statements and are not included here.) Rep. Melissa Rooker Good morning! I’m honored to be here with this great group of parents, teachers and concerned Kansans to celebrate the grassroots activism that brings us all together today. Once upon a time, I was a concerned parent with 2 kids in the Kansas public school system....
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KS education activists march from Merriam to Topeka

“Lauren Van Wagoner joined Game On for the first time this year. Her daughter just started kindergarten and is on the the autism spectrum. Van Wagoner says she’s worried about the effect potential cuts will have on her daughter’s education.” http://kcur.org/post/kansas-education-activists-march-merriam-topeka...
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