Here’s an excellent explanation of current funding from Dennis R. Stones, Superintendent USD 336. Holton Public Schools USD 336 From USD 336 School Superintendent Dennis Stones: Dear Colleagues and Community Members: Several people have approached me with questions about the Governor’s recent funding cuts. The Governor wants us to believe the cuts are due to school funding being “out of control” and that these cuts are simply a reduction of last year’s increase. That might be true for the state, but this is mostly false for school districts. I will attempt to explain this issue. School finance is...
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Hutch News on elusive magic education funding formula
Here’s a great column from the Hutch News. “I suppose it is politically useful to pretend there is a magic formula out there which will provide a better system of education at a reduced price. It is the same approach as pretending one can lower taxes and collect more revenue, that one can remove large sums of money from the highway budget and not affect road quality, that the number of prison guards can be reduced and not affect safety or performance, or that we can fix KPERS on the cheap by borrowing a lot of money. “The...
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Leave a Comment Walk with Game On March 27-30
Are you ready to make your voices heard for the sake of the children in your community? We’re going to be doing our third 60-mile walk from JOCO to Topeka March 27-29 with a final walk and press conference the morning of Monday, March 30. If you’d like to help organize the effort for your community, comment or message us. Otherwise, mark your calendar and plan to join us. More details to come. Here’s a video from last year’s walk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_3EbCov8Js...
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Leave a Comment Eagle provides context for school funding numbers
Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to reduce school funding for the current year by $28 million, or 1.5 percent, after previous promises to safeguard education dollars has sparked debate. Some lawmakers and residents have expressed anger over the cut to the schools’ current-year budget, but others agree with the governor that school spending ought to be reined in and say this offers an opportunity to reform the state’s school finance formula. Here are some numbers to consider when discussing school funding. $3,811 That’s the amount of base state aid per pupil after the governor’s reduction, a decrease of about...
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