The legislative committee that meets between sessions to discuss education issues will hold its first meeting tomorrow and Thursday, and their agenda has been published. In addition to presentations by staff of the Kansas Legislative Research Department and the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, there are 2 presentations by staff of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice (which boasts on its website that it’s known as “the nation’s original advocate of school choice” and “the nation’s leading advocate of vouchers”), 2 presentations by Dave Trabert, who is both paid president of the Kansas Policy Institute (which favors...
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Some legislators want to be able to influence supreme court justices on school funding
The next time you hear changing judicial selection has nothing to do with school funding cases, think of this statement by Rep. Lunn. (Read the whole article too-it’s a good recap.) “In a meeting last week with higher education officials, state Rep. Jerry Lunn, R-Overland Park, put Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little on notice, saying that KU and other universities should prepare for significant decreases in funding if the court orders legislators to increase funding to public schools. ‘You really do have a horse in this race,’ Lunn said to Gray-Little. He suggested that Gray-Little ‘talk to your...
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Leave a Comment We agree with this letter to the editor
As a member of the Kansas House Education Committee and a longtime member of United School Administrators of Kansas, I must take exception with Gov. Sam Brownback’s commentary (“Kansas schools not being shortchanged,” Oct. 27 Opinion). Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/10/30/3085808/letters-to-the-editor-on-k-12.html#storylink=cpy ...
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Leave a Comment Manipulating data to mislead the public
Recently, the blog wichitaliberty.org featured a series of graphs intended to rebuke Kansas “liberals'” dissatisfaction with school funding under Brownback. The graphs featured in this post from Wichita Liberty seem to show a sharp increase in the number of teachers with a slower rate of growth in certified employees. What isn’t immediately clear though is the way the graph manipulates the data in question. While the numbers are true, the way the graphs are set up may create a misconception about the data. At first glance the graph appears out of step with what many Kansans are experiencing....
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