Education

Considering a constitutional amendment on school funding 0
- Education
- October 15, 2018
There’s no constitutional amendment on the November ballot but it’s one of the major issues facing whoever gets elected. Kansas Policy Institute does not support or oppose candidates for public office, but we do provide educational information to the public about key economic and education issues facing Kansans. Our 2018 Voter Issue Guide is intended
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Barely half of 2018 school spending went to instruction 0
- Education
- October 15, 2018
There’s universal agreement that nothing impacts learning more than the interaction between students and teachers, yet local school boards allocated just 53.9 percent of total spending to Instruction during the 2018 school year. The Kansas Department of Education (KSDE), defines Instruction as “direct interaction between students and teachers.” When the Kansas Supreme Court ordered an
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Hey, state board, where are the state assessment results?0
- Education
- October 4, 2018
Indeed, it is now October and the 2018 state assessment results – tests that were taken by students last spring – have yet to be released to the public. Since the information is there – students and families have long been given individual results and even teachers have them for upcoming parent-teacher conferences – why
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Make school spending more efficient and effective 0
- Education
- October 1, 2018
Our 2018 Voter Issue Guide lists five critical issues that should be at the forefront of policy discussions in Kansas. This article provides a deeper examination of the school efficiency challenge, which is the third of five issues covered in the 2018 Voter Issue Guide. The first installment discussed the $3.7 billion budget shortfall and the
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State’s passive approach to “best practices” won’t improve outcomes of at-risk students 0
- Education
- September 30, 2018
Included in SB 19 – the court-demanded ransom to increase to K-12 funding passed during the 2017 legislative session – was a higher weighting for at-risk students, meaning schools now get even more money that in theory is to be targeted to reduce income-based achievement gaps. Recognizing that schools have failed to close those achievement
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Improving Low Student Achievement Levels 0
- Education
- September 24, 2018
Improving persistently low student achievement levels is one of the greatest challenges facing Kansans. Some students do quite well and overall outcomes are a little better than the national average, but there’s still tremendous need for improvement. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows only about a quarter of low income students are Proficient
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