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Some JOCO legislators bully aging agency

Johnson County legislators are bullying a volunteer agency. Is this happening to school boards, too? “Kansas lawmakers spent a good deal of their last session demanding ‘freedom’ from the federal government’s health care rules. Too bad their concerns don’t extend to freedom of speech and a free press. “Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Republican senator from Shawnee, is known for her disrespect of facts and opinions that clash with her views. On Monday, she led a delegation of 10 lawmakers to a meeting with the Johnson County Commission on Aging. “The legislators’ intent was to bully commission members into abandoning...
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Ohio: More Charters Failing Than Public Schools

Some legislators think we should change Kansas law to make it easier to open charters here. We’re looking at how that experiment is going in other states and heeding the warnings. Ohio: More Charters Failing than Public Schools by dianeravitch Stephen Dyer, education policy fellow at Innovation Ohio, has analyzed the latest state report cards. The state’s Governor, John Kasich, is pro-charter, pro-voucher, and pro-market forces. He is no friend to public education. The legislature is the same. They want more schools that are privately managed. As we saw in a post yesterday, Ohio has a parent trigger...
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Rep. Hineman explains consolidation by starvation

“But don’t think for a moment that this is always an unintended consequence of tight budgets. Those who perennially advocate for less funding for public education must surely understand that some rural school districts will be squeezed out of existence. So while they publicly voice their opposition to forced consolidation, their actions reveal that the disappearance of small rural Kansas school districts is not a concern to them and in fact they are hoping for that outcome. But of course they prefer the subtle consolidation by starvation over the more open and obvious forced consolidation. “And when that...
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Special ed teacher Harsin urges Kansas women to take back Kansas

“Shame on us if we do not work to elect the right people and allow some to earn their jobs by our apathy.” Watch special education teacher Stephanie Harsin at the Women for Kansas rally explain how important your vote is and why we need to take back Kansas from those who don’t share our concern for public education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RDjUHUfNo...
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