The Kansas legislature should not change our charter school law. “Forecasts about what 2015 will bring to the education landscape frequently foresee more charter schools as charter-friendly lawmakers continue to act witlessly to proliferate these schools. But make no mistake, the charter school scandals of 2014 forever altered the narrative about what these institutions really bring to the populace.” Please read the rest of this article. It lists and links stories about numerous charter scandals in 2014 in multiple states. http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/educations-newsmaker-of-the-year-charter-school-scandals/...
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CREDO researcher concludes free market doesn’t work in education
Last week, Margaret Raymond, a researcher for CREDO at the Hoover Institution (a pro-free-market think tank) who is married to Eric Hanushek (who testified for the state in the Gannon case) admitted what many of us have understood for years, which is that the free market philosophy and choice do not work in public education. “This is one of the big insights for me. I actually am kind of a pro-market kinda girl. But it doesn’t seem to work in a choice environment for education. I’ve studied competitive markets for much of my career. That’s my academic focus...
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Leave a Comment Jan Ressenger reports Pandora’s box of school privatization
Pandora’s box opened a bit wider in Kansas with last session’s passage of the corporate tax credit scholarship. Kansans should make sure it doesn’t go any further. Jan Ressenger reports on the Pandora’s box of school privatization. “These are all such nice ideas. The problem, however, in Ohio and Michigan and many other states is that our politics is awash in money. The owners of the for-profits, the on-line charter schools, the shady Charter Management Organizations and other proponents of school privatization including major philanthropists are spending buckets of money to influence the politicians who would have to...
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Leave a Comment K-12 Performance and Efficiency Committee recommends commission to study Rose standards
From our friends at Educate Lawrence, “The Kansas Supreme Court established the ‘Rose capacities’ as the standard for evaluating adequate funding of our public schools and sent the judgment on adequacy of school funding back to a three-judge panel. The Rose standard includes measurements of student’s knowledge of civics, economics, fine arts, and possessing the communication skills necessary for entering college or the workforce. The K-12 Student Performance and Efficiency Committee discussed various legislative bills but could only come to agreement on recommending a new study commission to investigate the Rose standard. If passed by the legislature, this...
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