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This article explains how district reserves are being overestimated by the administration. “The administration of Gov. Sam Brownback circulated a document last week among lawmakers and supporters that showed that school districts across the state had about $381 million in “flexible” funds as of July 1. “The Division of Budget arrived at $381 million by adding up the districts’ contingency funds and several other dedicated funds that are designated for specific purposes, such as virtual and bilingual education or summer school, but can be used for other purposes if necessary. “The agency, which is headed by Shawn Sullivan,...

These are not tweaks, and yes, this would set up schools and the children they serve for failure. These are bad ideas which cannot be separated from their end game: cut funding for schools until it’s low enough to fit the low revenue stream of the great Kansas experiment instead of being based on what Kansas children need. “Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has also proposed repealing Kansas’ school funding formula and replacing it with block grants to each school district. This came after a panel of three district judges ruled December that the state needs to spend at...

Salina reports that education has long been held dear in Kansas, but that may be changing. “’Kansas has always placed a value on education,’ said Salina Superintendent of Schools Bill Hall. ‘It defines who we are.’ “However, in 2015, Kansas lawmakers will likely be looking for ways to decrease public education funding. “Because of tax cuts approved in 2012, state budget deficits were projected to run in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and legislators were floating ideas as the 2015 session began for cutting the cost of the state’s biggest expense, education. “The month before the session...