“It would be too bad if the kindergarten funds met a fate similar to increased higher education funding that was included in Brownback’s budget last January. Although Brownback voiced support for additional funds and even toured the state near the end of the session to tout his position, he nonetheless ended up signing a budget that didn’t include the higher education boost.” We agree and hope the governor and legislature aren’t playing good cop bad cop on education funding.http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/dec/23/editorial-first-step/?opinion...
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Mark Pocan explains how ALEC works via the Special Needs Scholarship bill
Here’s Wisconsin Senator Mark Pocan in March 13, 2012 illustrating our concerns about ALEC using the example of the Special Needs Scholarship Program. Kansas had its ALEC Special Needs Scholarship bill last session (http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2263_00_0000.pdf). The section he refers to regarding hiring a company with experience evaluating these programs is Section 9 in the Kansas bill, rather than Section 8 in the Wisconsin bill. “Sec. 9. (a) The department may contract with one or more qualified researchers who have previous experience evaluating school choice programs to conduct a study of the program.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOBsoUZFae8...
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Leave a Comment Poverty problem rather than an education problem
We post this article because Kansas is part of this trend, and any discussion on education spending and outcomes in Kansas needs to include the increasing numbers of Kansas students in poverty. Instead of the story line told my some that Kansas scores have been stagnant, the story should be that despite dramatic increases in students in need of additional help, scores have held steady. We want our schools to improve, but we need to acknowledge the demands they are facing. “[S]pending on education has not kept pace with the rise in child poverty. While poverty grew by...
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Leave a Comment Brownback says perception of ALEC influence is overblown but we disagree
We disagree. We think our legislators and governor should focus more on education policy that actually works and what Kansans want rather than following the recommendations of ideologues and corporations from other states. We opposed multiple ALEC education bills last year and are preparing to do the same in 2014:http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/capitol-report/2013/dec/17/brownback-says-perception-of-alec-influe/...
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