We are among those who take issue with a recent pro-Brownback ad on school funding numbers and classroom spending. The overall numbers are inflated and include amounts that will only materialize if local voters increase their local property taxes and do not represent new funding at the state level. http://www.kansas.com/2014/04/26/3424952/some-take-issue-with-pro-brownback.html...
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School advocates say Game On
We’re in the Lawrence Journal World this morning, along with our friends in Lawrence, Andover, Derby and Goddard! It’s time to get in the game, Kansas! “‘Our demographic has done a lousy job of being informed voters,’ [Game On’s Judith] Deedy conceded. ‘I say that without casting blame on anyone. I used to think I was an informed citizen until I started realizing how little I understood.’ With that new focus, members of Game On started reaching out, through social media and other outlets, to connect with like-minded groups in other communities, including Andover, Goddard and Derby in...
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Leave a Comment Kansas City Star: Hold the applause on Kansas school finance bill
We’re not applauding. A few quick thoughts, based on reports from the signing ceremony, which took place in the governor’s office and was attended by top legislative leaders. • Brownback downplayed the part of the bill that gets rid of automatic due process hearings for teachers. That will now be a decision for local school boards, he said. “There’s a lot of local control in this bill,” he said. There seems to be some question about how much leeway school boards will have. But apart from that, the idea of the governor — or any Kansas Republican leader...
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Leave a Comment Milwaukee voucher school leader indicted on mail fraud and money laundering charges
Is this the kind of choice for low-income students we want in Kansas? The Kansas legislature just opened the door. “The head of a former Milwaukee voucher school has been indicted by a federal grand jury on counts of mail fraud and money laundering. . . While L.E.A.D.E.R. was part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which allows low-income children to attend private schools on publicly funded vouchers, the state Department of Public Instruction issued payments to the school totaling more than $1 million over two years, according to state records.” http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/112892364.html#ixzz2zX6uyUMz ...
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