Kansas PTA Press Release 8/26/14 With elections right around the corner, debate over education policies has begun among the candidates. Kansas Parent Teacher Association represents over 20,000 members across the state and has been advocating for a quality public education for Kansas students since our beginning in Kansas City, KS in 1914. We continue our work today as the largest volunteer child advocacy association in the state working for all children and families. Kansas PTA believes that every child must be provided with a well-rounded, high-quality education, which will ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach...
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NY Charter organization spending $31 million on new offices
This one’s from New York. Is this what we call efficient use of taxpayer dollars for nonprofit charters? “The new offices will cost [Eva Moskowitz of Success Academy Charter Schools] organization $31 million over 15 years, according to its most recent financial report. The same report shows Moskowitz received an eye-popping $567,000 during the 2012-2013 school year. That’s a raise of $92,000 from the previous year, and more than double the $212,000 paid to Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. . . The move to Wall Street took effect just months before the much-publicized battle between Moskowitz and Mayor de...
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Leave a Comment Florida charter applications cause for concern
Is this what we want for Kansas? Florida is no model when it comes to charters. “Among those vying to open new charter schools, which are privately operated but publicly funded: • A group that managed three new charter schools in Broward and Palm Beach counties that opened this year — and then shut down on the first day of school. • The founder of two charter schools that failed in 2007 amid accusations of stolen money, shoddy record keeping and parent complaints, according to state and local records. A state investigation later chastised school directors for “virtually...
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Leave a Comment Duane Goossen’s Kansas Budget blog: Kansas classrooms have been hurt, future will be worse
School district funding that can be used for classrooms and educational programs has been declining. At the same time, the total number of students statewide has been going up, leading to increased classroom sizes and diminished educational opportunities for each child. The trend in the chart corresponds to the per pupil funding decline in the Kansas school finance formula from $4,400 per pupil six years ago to $3,852 this school year — and the reduction in state appropriations for General State Aid from $2.175 billion in FY 2009 to $2.030 billion in FY 2015. That brings us back...
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