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The major newspaper for Detroit conducted a year-long study of charters in the state and found: “wasteful spending, conflicts of interest, poor performing schools and a failure to close the worst of the worst. Among the findings: Charter schools spend $1billion per year in state taxpayer money, often with little transparency. Some charter schools are innovative and have excellent academic outcomes — but those that don’t are allowed to stay open year after year. A majority of the worst-ranked charter schools in Michigan have been open 10 years or more. Charter schools as a whole fare no better...

“Merrick, a Stilwell Republican who is the chamber’s top political leader, said during an interview Thursday that he welcomed addition of law-abiding people trained to carry concealed weapons because their presence in the Statehouse as of July 1 would serve as added protection against violence. ‘I’m uncomfortable with people being here for other reasons,” Merrick said. “There are a lot of red shirts around here.’ His statement was interpreted as a knock at dozens of Kansas teachers — most wearing red T-shirts with printing that urged people to support public education — who were at the Capitol two...

We anticipate seeing charts showing an “increase” in state funding vs. last year, because we’re changing education accounting again, just like there was an “increase” when KPERS was rolled into education funding. Money raised locally will now be routed through Topeka, and local banks will miss out on a significant amount of deposits. “But Sen. Laura Kelly, the ranking Democrat on the Senate budget committee, says the matter may not be that simple. ‘If that 20 mills from every little school district comes to the state treasury,’ Kelly said, ‘I don’t know how that would not be considered...