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Kansas Budget blog stresses importance of BSAPP

Please share this post. Far too many Kansans hear the claims that overall funding is up and conclude that all is well with Kansas school funding. The fact remains that Base State Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP) was cut during the recession, while legislators promised it would be restored when the recession eased. Instead, we got a risky tax cut and classroom funding that is not keeping up with needs. “Lawmakers do have discretion over general state aid, and they have chosen to let it decline. The result: classroom sizes are growing and Kansas districts are less able to...
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Texas report shows public schools outperform charters there

Be wary of those who promote changing Kansas law to promote more charter schools with no accountability. Other states keep showing that charters do not outperform public schools, especially when you control for their different student populations. “Please spread this information across the state! Charter schools perform well at significantly lower percentages than the traditional public schools. Even with inequitable and inadequate funding, even without doing selective admissions (like charters), even with constant bashing, Texas public schools did themselves proud in the 2014 accountability rankings. “Charters perform significantly lower than traditional public schools! Again!” Texas 2014 Accountability: State...
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Lawmakers still considering moving school board elections to fall

The push to move school board and other municipal elections to the fall and make them partisan is not benign. It represents an effort to politicize local offices and make them subject to the same partisan postcards we just saw for statewide offices. It would also lead to voters casting uninformed ballots on school board races which would likely get overwhelmed by the other races at that time. Kansans need to stay informed on this issue. “‘I think it’s a terrible idea,’ said Lawrence school board president Shannon Kimball. ‘The partisan politics going on at the state level...
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Wellington Daily News reports Hoffman and Abrams not concerned about budget impact on schools

And so the game continues. Instead of “cuts”, we can expect “efficiencies” and changes to weightings and the formula per Rep. Hoffman and Sen. Abrams while waiting for thousands of jobs to come flooding into Kansas. What are your legislators saying? “State legislators from Sumner County defended the tax cuts given by Gov. Sam Brownback, and said they believe they will end up helping the state, as they spoke at a legislative update meeting held at the Donut Shop in Wellington Saturday. “Several people at the meeting, sponsored by the Sumner County Farm Bureau, questioned Rep. Kyle Hoffman...
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