Blog

Kansas teacher retirements rising

We are concerned that budget pressures, uncertain future school financing and legislation eliminating due process for teachers is leading good teachers to leave the profession. “Kansas school districts are reporting a higher pace of retirements in the past few years, even as the number of newly licensed teachers remains flat. More than 2,000 teachers retired last school year, or double the number that did so five years earlier, the Kansas State Department of Education revealed last week in an annual snapshot of the state’s education work force…The number of fully licensed elementary teachers employed last year in Kansas...
Read more Leave a Comment

Game On’s Judith Deedy explains why Kansans need to get in the game at the Women for Kansas convention

“There are forces at work that do not value public education as much as we do. They are organized, funded and aggressively pursuing their agenda. We need to get our team on the field, standing up, speaking out and voting.” – Judith Deedy Founding member and executive director of Game On for Kansas Schools, Judith Deedy is a product of public schools and believes a strong public education system is essential to the future of Kansas children and the entire state. “We have to share information with our friends, family and neighbors. We’re Kansans. We don’t discuss politics...
Read more Leave a Comment

Student Lindsay Baltzell addresses Women for Kansas convention

From the Women for Kansas Convention August 30. “I don’t know much about the Ds and Rs, but I do know that Kansas public schools need leaders that can earn an ‘E for supporting education’ next to their name.” – Lindsay Baltzell, 11-year-old student from Topeka. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRp59-U4eKg&list=PLixAMwVPwfKOi0eFxzmn_2OGD0uRCq9fF&index=15...
Read more Leave a Comment

Dept of Ed working on controversial tax credit scholarship program

The Department of Education is working on the tax credit “scholarship” program passed as part of HB 2506 at the end of last session. We opposed passage of this ALEC boilerplate bill because it further depletes the state general fund, it requires no accountability on the part of the nonpublic schools receiving the funds and even requires participating students to waive special education services. The scholarship granting organizations which will hand out the scholarships, get to keep up to 10% of the money they handle. http://cjonline.com/news/2014-09-27/controversial-private-school-tuition-program-could-start-january Here’s a link to the legislation (starts on p. 31): http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2506_enrolled.pdf Here is...
Read more Leave a Comment