-
Cap-and-trade harmful to Kansas
Read more: Cap-and-trade harmful to KansasAn op-ed in the Wichita Eagle (Amy J. Blankenbiller: Cap-and-trade would be harmful to Kansans) makes the case that some cures for global warming may cause more harm than good.
-
Another Funny Wichita School Bond Issue Cartoon
Read more: Another Funny Wichita School Bond Issue CartoonHelen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education has released another political cartoon whose topic is the Wichita school bond issue. Click here to go to CBE’s website and see the first cartoon.
-
Records Requests Sent Today
Read more: Records Requests Sent TodayToday, I’ve made two records requests under the Kansas Open Records Act. The first, to USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is this: All correspondence between USD 259 and Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture and its representatives from July 1, 2007 to the present. I ask for both written and electronic correspondence such as…
-
Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers Union
Read more: Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers UnionIn 2006, Wichita Eagle editorial Cartoonist Richard Crowson received an award from the Kansas teachers union. He’s a “friend of education.” Really. I wonder if Crowson realizes the harm that teachers unions cause? I wonder if he know that teachers unions try to block every attempt at meaningful reform?
-
Kansas Blog Roundup for September 12, 2008
Read more: Kansas Blog Roundup for September 12, 2008There won’t be a Kansas blog roundup today. I’m in Scottsdale, Arizona attending the State Policy Network conference. We’ve been busy from dawn to way late at night, and there just hasn’t been time.
-
Does Kansas Economic Development Work?
Read more: Does Kansas Economic Development Work?A commentary by AFP’s Alan Cobb (Yes, but it’s only $1.3 billion) reports that Kansas economic development efforts are not working. Can the same be said about Wichita’s?
-
Is Richard Crowson Cartooning For or Against the Wichita School Bond Issue?
Read more: Is Richard Crowson Cartooning For or Against the Wichita School Bond Issue?A recent Richard Crowson cartoon drums up support for a proposed bond issue for USD 259, the Wichita school district, by noting the cost is only 11 cents a day. And, he notes, test scores are up in many schools. I don’t know if this is an argument for or against the bond issue. If…
-
Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond Bias
Read more: Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond BiasWriting from Scottsdale, Arizona Today’s Mark McCormick column in the Wichita Eagle (Opponents of school bond skip specifics) provides an example of this columnist’s bias, and how this bias leads to his rapidly losing credibility among Wichitans. Bias is okay for a columnist. Everyone is entitled to a point of view. After reading a few…
-
Wichita School Safe Rooms: At No Cost?
Read more: Wichita School Safe Rooms: At No Cost?Writing from Scottsdale, Arizona At the September 8, 2008 meeting of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, safe rooms were on the agenda. A few things I learned: It appears that it was by serendipity that the district discovered that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would help pay for the…
-
Ohio School Choice Improves Public Schools
Read more: Ohio School Choice Improves Public SchoolsThe Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has produced the report Promising Start — An Empirical Analysis of How EdChoice Vouchers Affect Ohio Public Schools, which finds these results: This study finds that the EdChoice program produced academic improvements in voucher-eligible public schools. … This study adds to a large body of empirical research that consistently…
-
Wichita School District: TIF Action Tests Accountability and Ethics
Read more: Wichita School District: TIF Action Tests Accountability and EthicsThe real problem with this TIF district, however, is the conduct of the applicant, who is a member of this board. At a meeting of the Wichita City Council, Reverend Harding told the council that he had informed his fellow school board members of what he was doing. But two members of this board have…
-
Testimony before the USD 259 Wichita Public School board regarding the Ken Mar TIF
Read more: Testimony before the USD 259 Wichita Public School board regarding the Ken Mar TIFFrom John Todd. President Rogers, School Board Members, and Superintendent Libhart, I thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is John Todd. I live at 1559 Payne in Wichita, Kansas, and I am opposed to the Ken Mar shopping center TIF that was created by the City of Wichita on August 12, 2008,…