Tag: Wichita and Kansas schools
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Substantial cuts in Kansas K-12 spending necessary, possible this year
Dr. Walt Chappell of Wichita is a newly-elected member of the Kansas State Board of Education. He has some realistic perspectives on school spending in Kansas. As the Kansas legislature struggles to close the gap in the budget, the public school spending lobby is resisting cuts. Following is a letter Chappell sent to Kansas legislators.…
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Wichita BOE’s Nolan expresses concern
At Monday’s meeting of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, board members expressed frustration over the mishandling of a construction contract. It’s not clear where fault lies, or whether the board has any interest in finding where that fault should be laid.
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Kansas school districts sitting on $1.36 billion
In its first story since the hiring of investigative journalist Paul Soutar, the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy takes a look at the Kansas school budget process, specifically the large amount of unencumbered cash held by Kansas school districts. It appears that the Kansas system of school finance is complicated. “Kansas Board of Education…
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Kansas school spending advocates ramp up
Today the Kansas Legislature returns to Topeka for a session that must deal with the difficult realities of the Kansas budget. Constituencies that depend of government spending have been making their cases for their programs to be spared cuts. The public school lobby is perhaps the most vocal. Kansas Families for Education is a group…
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Wichita BOE can still do right for voters
Regarding the decision two weeks ago to award a bond construction project to an out-of-state company, even though a local company submitted a less expensive bid: It wasn’t a promise, but several op-ed pieces by the interim superintendent and school board president last year reminded Wichitans of all the jobs created by the bond issue…
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South-central Kansas legislative forum touches variety of issues
On Saturday April 25, 2009, members of the South-central Kansas Legislative Delegation met with citizens at the Wichita Water Center. Nine of the approximately 25 members of the delegation attended.
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Wichita-area school superintendents make flawed case
Sunday’s Wichita Eagle contains an op-ed piece by several Wichita-area public school superintendents that calls for the Kansas Legislature to spare K-12 education from budget cuts. The piece starts with a recognition of the importance of education. I don’t think that anyone will disagree with this assertion. From then on, however, there’s little that I…
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Kansas teachers union doublespeak not hard to decode
Reading the Kansas National Education Association’s — that’s the teachers union, also known as KNEA — report Under the Dome is becoming an exercise in decoding doublespeak. Today’s issue, which you can read by clicking on Under the Dome Today for April 23, 2009, contains some 417 words that hope for something to happen, without…
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KNEA’s attitude towards Kansas taxpayers
The Kansas National Education Association — that’s the teachers union — shows again that it has little respect for Kansas taxpayers. The issue of Under the Dome for April 17, 2009 reveals this organization’s appetite for tax revenue is large, and they’re always on the prowl for more.
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Articles of Interest
Kansas budget, wind power, alternative fuels gone wild, newspaper bailouts, journalism entrepreneurship.
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Kansas school test scores: can they be reconciled with national tests?
In the Kansas Education Summary dated January, 2009, Kansas Commissioner of Education Alexa Posny wrote this summary: “Across all of Kansas, the percent of students reading at the proficient level or above has risen from 59% in 2000 to 84% in 2008. This is a 25% gain. Math has risen from 50% to 81%, a…