Tag: Wichita and Kansas schools
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Charter Schools on the Rise in Kansas City, But Not in Wichita
Parents in Kansas City, Missouri are making widespread use of an educational option that’s not available in Wichita. As reported in today’s Kansas City Star (Charter schools on the rise in KC), about 23 percent of Kansas City schoolchildren attend charter schools.
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Helen Cochran on the Wichita School Bond Issue
Here’s a link to Helen Cochran speaking about the Wichita school bond issue on KAKE television. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE86dkwm5R8 Here’s Helen’s statement as to why she didn’t attend the debate: Late yesterday afternoon, after repeatedly requesting information for several weeks, I was finally informed of the forum details for a school bond issue debate sponsored by the…
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Wichita Public School District: Taxation Without Information is the Policy
Taxation without information. I wish I could take credit for inventing this phrase that I recently heard someone use. It captures very well the key characteristic of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, and its campaign for the proposed 2008 bond issue. This school district resists providing information that will help journalists and citizens…
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Wichita School Bond Economic Impact
In February 2008, Janet Harrah of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University produced a report titled “Wichita Public Schools: Impact Analysis Operations Impact, Bond Impact and Success Measures.” This report painted a glowing picture of the USD 259 (Wichita, Kansas public school district) bond issue in 2000. The district…
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Wichita School Bond Issue on Kansas Week
From the October 31, 2008 broadcast of the public affairs television program Kansas Week on KPTS.
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On the Wichita Eagle editorial board, partisanship reigns
The Wichita Eagle’s Rhonda Holman, writing for the editorial board in today’s lead editorial (Where do city, county stand on bond?) makes a few points that illustrate the highly partisan nature of this board.
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Wichita school district’s favorite architect stands to win big
Shortly after USD 259 (the Wichita school district) passed a bond issue in 2000, a contract was formed between the district and its favorite architectural firm, Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture. The contract, portions of which you can read here, pays this firm one percent of the bond amount for “Project Management Services.” Plus expenses,…
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Wichita school district campaigns for the bond
An article in today’s newspaper reports on how USD 259, the Wichita school district, uses school district assets, personnel, and funds to promote the proposed Wichita school bond issue.
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Wichita School Bond Issue: It’s not the $42.55, it’s the $1,927
Twelve cents per day for the owner of a $100,000 home is the mantra of supporters when it comes to selling the cost of the proposed USD 259 $370 million school bond issue to district taxpayers. That amount equates to about $42.55 per year or $3.55 per month in additional taxes. Who could oppose such…
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Wichita test scores largely mirror Kansas
Officials at USD 259, the Wichita school district, and school bond issue supporters are quick to point out that the Wichita schools have an 11-year record of rising test scores. That’s a good thing, as long as the tests are reliable and valid measures of student learning and achievement.
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Wichita Eagle’s Bob Lutz and the Wichita School Bond Issue
In his column Cochran has succeeded in spreading anti-bond message, Wichita Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz argues for the passage of the Wichita school bond issue. This is the same Bob Lutz who, on learning that the Wichita school board might cut some spending on athletic facilities from the bond issue, became “flustered now about…
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Wichita School Superintendent Martin Libhart: What’s Wrong With “Government Schools?”
In a recent email from Wichita School Interim Superintendent Martin Libhart to Wichita school employees, he took issue with those who, using his words, “openly refer to public education as ‘government schools.’” It seems as though Mr. Libhart regards the term “government schools” as derogatory. Or at least as something that should be used only…