Milwaukee has the nation’s longest-running voucher program. Kansas is following its lead with the passage of the corporate tax credit “scholarship” program to allow low income students to attend private schools. What’s the problem with that? It takes money from the state general fund and provides no measures of accountability for the schools receiving the “scholarships”. Milwaukee’s program has standards, but even so, “Over the past 10 years, Wisconsin taxpayers have paid about $139 million to private schools that were subsequently barred from the state’s voucher system for failing to meet requirements related to finances, accreditation, student safety...
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Retired KS economist warns of insufficient budgets for schools
Please take a moment to share this letter to the editor, which will be published in the Manhattan Mercury. It is written by Dr. Ed Olsen, retired economist from Kansas State University and former member of the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group: Dear Editor: Gubernatorial candidates Davis and Brownback have dueling claims about the current administration’s supports for K-12 education. I checked their arguments with budget data from the Kansas State Department of Education. In order to judge the budget for education, one must first convert total expenditures to a per pupil basis and also adjust for inflation. If...
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Leave a Comment Hildabrand, Rubin and Macheers opt out of Lenexa and Shawnee Chamber forum
We are concerned that incumbents whose votes and positions on education don’t match their campaign rhetoric are failing to attend public events. Reps. Hildabrand, Rubin and Macheers didn’t attend a forum hosted by the Lenexa and Shawnee Chambers of Commerce. Kudos to Larry Meeker, Cindy Neighbor, Amber Versola, Linda Gallagher and Vicki Hiatt for sharing their positions. Are your incumbent Representatives failing to appear in public? Read more about the Lenexa and Shawnee Chambers event here: http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2014/oct/13/legislative-candidates-discuss-business-education-/...
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Leave a Comment Report from KASB shows link between spending and achievement
A new report from KASB shows spending on education matters. “The amount of spending (total revenue per pupil, current spending per pupil, and spending on instruction per pupil; in actual dollars, adjusted for inflation, and adjusted for regional cost of living), is a significant predictor of almost all outcome measures, including all NAEP math and reading scores, college readiness tests and high school completion. Higher spending is a significant predictor of outcomes even when adjusted for the percent of low-income students tested (NAEP) or the percentage of students participating in the test (ACT and SAT).” http://www.kasb.org/assets/Research/RREdFunding0914.pdf...
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