Action Alert: We know, we’re posting AGAIN, and we’re sorry about that, but as we’ve been paying attention to charters, vouchers, etc., and while broadband, gay discrimination and spanking bills have been in the news, another set of bills has been quietly making their way through the legislature. This post addresses Senate Bill 211 (major changes in school board and other municipal elections). PLEASE CONTACT COMMITTEE MEMBERS LISTED BELOW. This week, the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee began working SB 211, which would move local spring elections to coincide with November general elections in even-numbered years. The committee...
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Rep. Melcher hosts Carpe Diem CEO but we don’t see that as a model for Kansas
Rep. Melcher scheduled a 2 hour promotional session with the joint education committees yesterday for a charter school based out of Arizona. Did you know that the Carpe Diem charter district and school administrative costs are DOUBLE that of Kansas public schools – 9% charter v 4% to 5% Kansas public schools? 33% of their staff are administrators/CEOs (see Carpe Diem’s own report). Did you know that Rep. Melcher’s own school districts already implement this innovative blended learning model? (http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/12/4819785/the-flip-side-of-learning-new.html) Did you know that the charter school has no empirically valid data on student outcomes? CEO/Founder Rick Ogston compares...
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Leave a Comment Warning from North Carolina on expansion of charter schools
Last year North Carolina enacted legislation expanding charter schools. Kansas should heed this warning: “Buses were consistently arriving as much as 90 minutes late. Elementary textbooks had not been ordered. ‘General disorder was observed throughout the middle school,’ a summary from Prestige says, and middle school students ‘were taking naps as part of the day, some for as long as 2 hours.’ The school was still staffed for more than 400 students, even though it was serving a smaller population. ‘Office staff indicates that Phyllis Handford and Sandra Moss ‘alternate’ their time in the school, each working what sounds...
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Leave a Comment House Education Committee hearing corporate tax credit scholarship bill
The House Ed Committee held a hearing on the corporate tax credit scholarship bill (which was defeated last year). This is another ALEC bill and is a voucher bill in disguise. It allows corporations to donate money to “scholarship granting organizations” which is then given to private (often religious) schools as “scholarships” for low-income students (up to almost double the federal poverty income level). The corporations then get a 70% tax credit for their donations, further reducing revenues to the State General Fund, from which public schools are funded. There are no oversight provisions for the private schools...
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