This letter offers great advice for Kansans who care about public education in our state. I think that those Kansans who are unhappy about legislative actions should stop complaining in private unless they are willing to take action themselves. Ours is a state with a proud history of populism. We the people are not powerless. We can speak and we can tell our leaders what we want and what we value. But there is only one way that ordinary Kansans will be heard in Topeka: through the ballot box and through personal involvement. There was a common slogan in...
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House appropriations bill to comply with Gannon bundled with toxic education policy
Instead of simply doing an appropriations bill to comply with the Gannon decision, the House Republican leadership has written a 91-page bill (HB 2773) that reads like a list of ALEC policies. (1) It would provide for the ALEC expansion of charters and would establish an independent chartering board, with the governor appointing three members, the Senate president and House speaker each appointing two members, and the minority leaders of the House and Senate each choosing one appointee. (2) It creates a new income tax deduction for contributions to charter schools. (3) It would enact corporate tax credit scholarships....
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Leave a Comment Eagle editorial: be wise on school funding
We agree with this editorial: “Shortchanging or stiffing the districts could invite further review – and trouble – from the same three-judge panel that ruled last year that state funding was unconstitutionally low. In the worst-case scenario, the panel would enjoin districts’ use of the LOB mechanism, costing them $1 billion statewide. That would be a disaster for schools, but also bad politics in a re-election year.” http://www.kansas.com/2014/03/20/3355531/eagle-editorial-be-wise-on-school.html...
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Leave a Comment Brownback recommends significant new funding to comply with Gannon equity decision
“Addressing inequities in school funding identified by the Supreme Court “will require significant new funding,” Gov. Sam Brownback said Wednesday in a statement. He did not say how much new funding, nor where the money would come from. The Department of Education and the Kansas Legislative Research Department have calculated equalization of these areas could cost $129 million.” http://www.kansas.com/2014/03/19/3355514_brownback-significant-new-funding.html...
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