When our governor and some of our legislators say that the allotment or other bills to reduce school funding are merely a “decrease to the increase” they are failing to mention that a large part of the increase was to comply with a court order after it was determined equalization funding levels were unconstitutionally low. The plaintiffs have filed a motion to revive the equity portion of the Gannon case. “Last year, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on the first claim, ordering the state to restore full payments of equalization aid that go to districts with lower per-pupil...
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Misnamed bill would move local elections, make them partisan
Senator Mitch Holmes wins a prize for the most deceptive bill name and press release for his bill that would in part move local and school board elections to November and make them partisan. The “Help Kansas Vote Act” is about introducing partisanship into local elections. While he says it’s about local control, local municipalities and school boards are against this move, but are being ignored. Several of the nonpartisan bodies who testified during the interim hearings on this issue warned of the dangers of consolidating local elections with larger federal and statewide elections. The teachers unions are...
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Leave a Comment Dalvin Yager speaks up
Well said: Why do citizens of Kansas meekly allow the destruction of our public schools? Let’s make no mistake about it – that’s exactly what we are talking about. We are witness to the dismantling of a state education system, once ranked as one of the nation’s best, on the altar of political ideology. Public education has become the biggest boogeyman created by the state GOP to blame for the state’s economic ills. Let’s recount what the GOP wants to do: cut $44.5 million from schools immediately; eliminate the school funding formula because it is “broken” (principally because...
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Leave a Comment USD 489 chief reacts to cuts
Another superintendent (USD 489’s Dean Katt) speaks out. Parents, are you listening? “It’s the just same attack of public education … that we are not doing our jobs, we are wasteful, we are not appreciated and just to start that cycle again,” Katt said. “We are going to run-down public education as much as we can and then complain about the results. … We (USD 489) do an excellent job with what we have, and it’s sad.” http://www.hayspost.com/2015/02/09/usd-489-chief-reacts-to-school-funding-cuts-here-we-go-again/...
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