Our State Treasurer, Lynn Rogers, outlines some of the major problems with the latest Kansas voucher bill. We agree. “The difficulty with vouchers is that they began to privatize a system not designed to be privatized. Our school boards provide a process for the public to play a role in the accountability public officials have for using tax dollars. This is why we have established school boards. Other states have had notable issues with improper use of funds with these types of accounts. In our comparison to Arizona, we found audits showing funds for vouchers were spent on...
Read more
Leave a Comment Blog
School Choice in Arizona is a “Quagmire”
Last week a paid employee of a company that promotes vouchers claimed that vouchers had improved public education in Arizona. We meet monthly with members of Save Our Schools Arizona who vehemently dispute that claim. One former member’s story is being featured by Public Voices for Public Schools. “I left a state where ‘school choice’ has left millions of children unable to access a quality education. I’ve seen firsthand the inequitable quagmire that Arizona’s failed experiment has created. It doesn’t have to be this way – we can still save public schools by fighting these destructive programs and...
Read more
Leave a Comment If Teachers Quit, Our Schools Collapse
Please take a few minutes to read this editorial in the KC Star by Mará Rose Williams “The Kansas Legislature will consider at least nine bills related to how students are educated, granting parents more say on instruction, shifting public dollars to private schools and putting restrictions on testing. More proposals are expected, including a bill that would prohibit schools from teaching about racism and sexism. Education will likely be a significant issue in November’s contest for governor. But any debate on education needs to be grounded in what is truly happening in Kansas classrooms and what is...
Read more
Leave a Comment Public Opposition to ESA Accounts – Read KASB’s Reporting on HB 2550
“Anderson said one private school rescinded his son’s admission after his diagnosis and the other private school, while extremely caring, did not have the professional training and services needed to help his son.“’If you want to make this bill work for families like mine, you would need to obligate private schools to honor the same educational requirements that public schools follow, but that would require removing application guidelines that those schools either can’t or won’t live without,’ Anderson said.”Simply put, as Judith Deedy, executive director of Game On for Kansas Schools, said, ‘private schools are free to chose...
Read more
Leave a Comment