Education

School district hiring underscores need for money-follow-the-child programs 0
- Education
- January 5, 2021
(Editor’s note – this article has been updated with a revised calculation of virtual enrollment; the original article showed a 22,000 total enrollment decline. Some of the district enrollment changes are also updated.) School districts' decisions to add managers and cut classroom aides is the latest indication that legislators need to approve money-follow-the-child programs toREAD MORE
Despite promises, the Biden presidency will have little effect on K-12 education 0
- Education
- December 18, 2020
Don’t look for much impact on K-12 education when the new administration is ushered in. Why? First and foremost, public education is a state and local function. There is no mention of education in the U.S. Constitution nor any of the amendments pursuant. It was not until 1965 that there was any comprehensive federal education
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Kansas should forge ahead with state assessments 0
- Education
- December 11, 2020
As the calendar turns to a new year and with it the school spring semester, one question for K-12 education is garnering attention: Given the impact of COVID-19, should/will there be state assessments in 2021? It is vital that the state board and KSDE do everything possible to make sure those tests are administered. As
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It’s time to change the rules on the Kansas charter school law 0
- Education
- November 20, 2020
Lost in the fog of COVID, the Center for Education Reform (CER) released their 2020 national charter school law rankings. To what should be no surprise to anyone, Kansas’s charter school law once again received a grade of F, ranking 45th out of 46 states (including D.C.) that have charter school laws. All you need
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Barely half of $7 billion school funding is spent on Instruction 0
- Education
- November 6, 2020
The Kansas Education Accounting Manual tells school districts that Instruction spending – direct interaction between teachers and students – is “…the most important part of the education program, the very foundation on which everything else is built. If this function fails to perform at the needed level, the whole educational program is doomed to failure
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Student weightings add over $1.4 billion in education expenditures 0
- Education
- November 4, 2020
Total K-12 education expenditures for the 2019-20 school year topped the $7 billion mark according to the latest financial figures released by KSDE. Per-pupil expenditures rose 5.42% to $14,848. (KSDE just estimated 2020-21 total spending at $7.3 billion and per-pupil at $16,216.) Of the $7 billion spent in 2019-20, just over $2.1 billion came directly
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