Kansas isn’t the only state battling in court over its school funding. Nine other states (including Colorado and Texas) have school-funding lawsuits in the courts, and four other states recently wrapped up legal challenges, the Washington Post reported. Since 1973, when a U.S. Supreme Court case indicated that it was OK to challenge school-finance plans at the state level, all but five states – Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah – have had funding lawsuits. But winning a lawsuit does not necessarily result in more money, or consistent funding. The Kansas Legislature agreed to large funding increases in 2005 and 2006 after having lost a funding lawsuit. But because of funding cuts in recent years due to the economic downturn, the state’s education budget this fiscal year is 13 percent less when adjusted for inflation than it was in the 2007 school year, according to the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities.
It was no surprise that a three-judge panel ruled Friday that state funding for public schools is unconstitutionally low. After all, the Kansas Supreme Court reached the same decision in 2006, and the state agreed to a significant funding increase. But when the recession hit, the state began abandoning that promise and cutting spending, to the point where per-pupil base aid is now lower than it was in 2006. The Brownback administration and many lawmakers have acted as if that earlier court ruling never happened, and they no doubt will appeal this case to the Supreme Court. But why would the result be any different this time?
Exemplified by the Kansas State University power plant’s “Frankenstein Room,” where employees had used a 10-foot wooden pole to safely flip switches, the state’s problem of deferred maintenance on campuses seemed too big and costly to solve a few years ago. But the Legislature’s multiyear strategy involving bonding and $46 million in federal stimulus funds is having some success, reducing the backlog from $904 million in 2011 to $800 million currently. “We have seen a significant decrease in our backlog. What I think it is we are seeing is the money pumped into this has really made a difference,” Eric King, director of facilities for the Kansas Board of Regents, told the Lawrence Journal-World. Even better, the expectation since 2007 is that the funding of new projects will include future maintenance. It’s good to see the state and other stakeholders working to take better care of the state assets on college campuses.
To its credit, Gov. Sam Brownback’s school-efficiency task force recognized that the “65 percent solution” is itself a problem. In appointing the task force, Brownback complained that few school districts are spending 65 percent of their funding “in the classroom.” But as the task force members learned, whether schools meet that standard depends on what is counted. “There are a lot of things normal people would think are included in instruction that are not included in that definition at the present time,” task force chairman Ken Willard told lawmakers last week. Also, different districts have different needs. For example, fast-growing districts may need to spend more on capital improvements. “Our general belief is the 65 percent number is a bit arbitrary,” Willard said. The task force is recommending the state redefine what is included in the number. “If we are going to have a number, it should have some meaning,” Willard said. But the other big problem is that there is no research showing a relationship between the 65 percent threshold and improved student outcomes. It’s just a made-up number.
At the end of a Legislative Educational Planning Committee meeting this week, Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, started to make a motion to increase school base aid to $4,492 per pupil, as promised in the 2006 plan upheld by the Kansas Supreme Court, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. But the committee chairman, Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, cut Vratil off, adjourned the meeting and walked out, along with two other committee members. Vratil and the remaining members, including Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, voted anyway, approving the motion 7-0. Of those seven members, five (including Vratil and Schodorf) won’t be in the Legislature next session, so the motion is sure to go nowhere.
UPDATE: Huebert said he adjourned the meeting because all the agenda items had been covered. He also said there were snow warnings and some lawmakers from western Kansas needed to drive home.
Officials with the Kansas National Education Association are upset that a draft report from Gov. Sam Brownback’s school-efficiency task force recommends revising or narrowing state laws that govern collective-bargaining rights of teachers, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. “Collective bargaining around this state works,” said KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti. “Our teachers don’t go out there and demand exorbitant salaries, and they don’t have a right to strike. They go out there, and they work with their school districts.” Teachers already were unhappy that Brownback didn’t appoint any teachers to the task force, and that the task force declined to hear any testimony from teachers. Desetti also noted that none of the presenters to the task force indicated that negotiations with teachers were a problem. “This never came up in their meetings,” he said. “It appears there is an agenda here.”
Congratulations to Andover superintendent Mark Evans on being chosen to lead the Omaha school district. Though Omaha’s district is about 10 times larger than Andover’s, it is similar in size and demographics to Wichita’s district, where Evans previously worked for 20 years, including serving as a principal, interim superintendent and deputy superintendent. Some of Evans’ highlights in Andover include a successful bond issue and increases in student achievement. He also was active in the community, serving on several boards. He will be missed.
David Dennis of Wichita, the outgoing chairman of the Kansas State Board of Education, expressed understandable frustration last week that the state must give assessment tests over standards that it no longer uses. “We’re giving, as I recall, a couple hundred thousand assessments in reading and a couple hundred thousand assessments in math each year, and that’s some big dollars when we’re going to use it for nothing,” Dennis complained, noting that the tests cost between $10 and $15 per test per student. The state has received a waiver for the No Child Left Behind law and already adopted new Common Core state standards in reading and math. But because the new assessments won’t be implemented until the 2014-15 school year, the federal government still requires the state to give the old tests. In addition to wasting money, this puts school districts in a bind: Do they focus on the new standards (as they are supposed to)? Or do they continue to emphasize the old standards (because they may be criticized if their assessment scores drop)?
Teachers aren’t happy that they weren’t allowed to testify before Gov. Sam Brownback’s task force on school efficiency. The task force is wrapping up its work, and chairman Ken Willard said it didn’t have time to hear from teachers (though he encouraged them to submit written testimony). “It is disappointing when our input is not sought and it isn’t even welcomed in some circumstances,” Karen Godfrey, president of the Kansas-National Education Association, told the Lawrence Journal-World. Union spokesman Mark Desetti complained that no amount of efficiencies “can make up for what has already been cut out of school budgets, and no amount of efficiencies can make up for what is potentially going to be cut as the governor’s tax bill takes effect.”
Contrary to the claims of outgoing Kansas State Board of Education member Walt Chappell of Wichita, state education officials are not involved in a “massive cover-up.” They are not “gaming the system” to dupe parents and the public into thinking that our schools are better than they really are. There is no conspiracy. The Kansas assessments were peer-reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education and haven’t been dumbed down. Such irresponsible claims are why Chappell has been ostracized and rebuked by his fellow state board members – and likely why he lost his re-election bid in the GOP primary by 22 percentage points.
Oops. A new Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds has two misspelled words and a punctuation error: “Sabbath” came out “Sabbeth,” “maidservant” ended up “maidseruant,” and “neighbor’s” is missing the apostrophe. Columnist John Kelso suggested an additional commandment: “Thou shalt not drop out of school until thou has completed eighth grade.”
The Nov. 12 article by The Eagle’s Suzanne Perez Tobias on whether Kansas schools still teach cursive writing drew the attention of Washington Post blogger Alexandra Petri, whose response was headlined, “Abandon penmanship!” To Kansas State Board of Education member Walt Chappell’s contention that “there are all kinds of situations where you have to know how to write longhand,” Petri declared: “Nonsense! As an exercise, writing things by hand is up there with cobbling shoes and shoeing horses. If your only justification for the need to teach something in schools is that ‘if the power goes out, dang, won’t it be useful to have crossbows,’ possibly it is obsolete.” Last week, the state board heard a report that 90 percent of districts still teach cursive writing at the elementary level. The new Common Core standards for English do not include cursive writing, but the state board could decide to add it to Kansas’ version.
President Obama’s re-election refreshed memories of how his 2008 win had coincided with the passage of the USD 259 bond issue – narrowly and unexpectedly, given the aviation layoffs and other economic shocks hitting the community that fall. Tackling the $370 million in bond projects during the historic downturn has been challenging fiscally and politically, especially when the board decided to close five schools this year while opening new ones built by the bond issue. And tough decisions loom about the nearly 20 projects on hold, including another new high school. But the completed projects of the 2008 bond issue are benefiting students and the community, especially for arts and athletics programs. And it was gratifying to learn last week that with 52 projects completed, the bond issue is $4.1 million under budget. On Monday, board members also approved a $3.5 million bond issue project for Pleasant Valley Elementary School.
Last week offered two needed reminders that teachers who have sex with students don’t just exercise poor judgment, cross an ethical line and violate a public trust. They also break the law and risk jail time. The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld a state law that prohibits sexual contact between a teacher and an older teen student, noting “the disparity of power inherent in the teacher/student relationship” as it affirmed the conviction of former Wichita Northwest High School choir teacher Charles Edwards for having had sex with a then-18-year-old student. Also on Friday, Kurt M. Brundage, 33, got 32 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child while he was an English teacher at Wichita East High School. His victim, who was a 15-year-old former East student at the time, said at Brundage’s sentencing hearing that she wished people wouldn’t use the word “relationship” when describing what happened in her case. That’s an excellent point. There are much better words for it, starting with “sex crime.”
Ken Willard, chairman of Gov. Sam Brownback’s school efficiency task force, said that an online portal that allows the public to anonymously report examples of waste and inefficiency in public schools wasn’t intended to be negative. “If it sounded accusatory, that’s unfortunate because that certainly is not my position,” Willard told the Lawrence Journal-World. “But I think there probably are some things that could be done more efficiently, and if that’s the case we want to identify them in as positive a manner as possible to make recommendations.” Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, had complained that the website “seems like nothing more than a forum to demonize educators.” As a result, Democrats launched their own website seeking examples of how funding cuts have affected local schools. Democrats also have accused Brownback of creating the task force to provide cover for more budget cuts, noting that he initially didn’t appoint anyone to the task force who worked in education.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, said recently that “the writing is on the wall” in regard to school vouchers, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. “In my opinion, it’s like a tidal wave that’s coming, and I don’t know that the education establishment can withstand it forever,” Rhoades said. Actually, the reason vouchers haven’t been able to clear the Legislature is not because of the “education establishment.” Many conservative lawmakers have been concerned about the cost of vouchers and how they might affect small school districts.
It is exciting to see the former Britt Brown Arena at the Kansas Coliseum complex being transformed into the Aircraft Structural Testing and Evaluation Center, an expansion of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. Developer Johnny Stevens and NIAR are remodeling the arena so that NIAR can conduct structural tests on aircraft as big as Boeing 737s and 787s. Work at the center is expected to begin within a month, and the offices are scheduled to be open the first week of January. The new center will further enhance Wichita’s stature as an aviation manufacturing and research hub.
Though he officially started on the job on July 1, and unofficially began before then, congratulations to John Bardo on being inaugurated Friday as president of Wichita State University. Bardo has been a whirlwind of activity since returning to Wichita (he taught at WSU from 1976 to 1983). His goals for the university include increasing student enrollment, building a new residence hall in the center of campus, expanding research, turning more research into products in the marketplace, and improving the quality of student experience.
As Gov. Sam Brownback’s task force prepares to study how much K-12 funding reaches classrooms, state Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, is looking at legislation that would keep academically lagging third-graders from moving to fourth-grade classrooms unless their parents sign an opt-out form. Huebert also told Associated Press that he wants the state to commit some of its education money to reading interventions. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia reportedly require third-graders to read at a certain level before they can go on to fourth grade. Brownback, who has set a goal of increasing the percentage of fourth-graders reading at grade level, has expressed an interest in such a retention policy, according to Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker. Kansas State Board of Education chairman David Dennis of Wichita suggested such intervention should target younger students. By retaining third-graders, “You’ve almost closed the door after the horse has already left,” Dennis told AP.
Kansas State University president Kirk Schulz tried to clarify Wednesday that his move to end the use of “K-State” was aimed at communications with national audiences, not local ones. “The nickname ‘K-State’ has become common to those of us in the state and region, and we recognize the strength of being known to certain audiences as K-State,” he said in a statement. That’s wise. As another Kansas Board of Regents institution learned a few years back with its goofy nine-year bid to be called “The Wichita State University,” school and community traditions have deep roots unlikely to be disturbed by marketing decisions.
Closing arguments in the state’s school-finance lawsuit were heard Wednesday, and the three-judge panel hearing the case is unlikely to announce a decision for several weeks or months. But it is difficult to imagine how this lawsuit will end differently from the last one. The Kansas Supreme Court already ruled in 2006 that the state was not suitably funding K-12 education, as required by the Kansas Constitution. The main defense the state made this time was that it can’t afford to better fund schools because of the down economy. But that argument was undermined by the tax cuts the Legislature passed this year. Clearly, the state could spend more on schools. It chose not to.
Wichita East High School principal Ken Thiessen said that parents weren’t notified about a student being arrested Tuesday for having a gun in his school locker because doing so would have been more disruptive than the incident, which was handled quickly and quietly by police. But should that be the criteria for whether to keep parents informed? If the incident is serious, such as a student bringing a gun and ammunition to school, parents should be told, regardless of how much disruption the incident caused.
Kansas State Board of Education members discussed last week whether the state needs to look more closely at home schooling. Board chairman David Dennis of Wichita said that he has heard from public school principals about situations in which parents keep teenagers home to care for other children but claim they are being home schooled. Dennis wondered if the state needed to increase reporting requirements for home schoolers, but some other members wanted more information and feedback before recommending action. They plan to discuss the issue again at their September meeting.
Good for Gov. Sam Brownback for promoting the new initiative aimed at encouraging more students to receive technical training. The Legislature approved a bill last session – one of its few highlights – that gives school districts a $1,000 grant for each student who graduates from high school with a technical certificate. “This program is a win for students, for students and for industry,” Brownback said last week. “These high school graduates will have a sought-after skill that industry really needs.” It’s still unclear how well the program will work in practice, but it should help more students get the training required for many jobs. “We want to mix that student’s time and talent with opportunity,” Brownback said.
One of the less-noticed outcomes of the GOP primary will provide Wichita and the state with the benefit of two experienced, informed voices on the Kansas State Board of Education. In District 8, retired USD 259 assistant superintendent Kathy Busch (in photo) easily defeated one-term incumbent Walt Chappell. And in District 10, former Wichita Northwest and Northeast Magnet high school principal Jim McNiece won an uncontested race to succeed current board chairman David Dennis of Wichita. No Democrats filed in either race. Both Busch and McNiece will bring a lot of knowledge to the table as the board deals with new curriculum standards and the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver.
Kansas isn’t the only state battling in court over its school funding. Nine other states (including Colorado and Texas) have school-funding lawsuits in the courts, and four other states recently wrapped up legal challenges, the Washington Post reported. Since 1973, when a U.S. Supreme Court case indicated that it was OK to challenge school-finance plans at the state level, all but five states – Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah – have had funding lawsuits. But winning a lawsuit does not necessarily result in more money, or consistent funding. The Kansas Legislature agreed to large funding increases in 2005 and 2006 after having lost a funding lawsuit. But because of funding cuts in recent years due to the economic downturn, the state’s education budget this fiscal year is 13 percent less when adjusted for inflation than it was in the 2007 school year, according to the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities.
