Ad campaign accuses Kansas schools of low academic standards

There was no requirement under No Child Left Behind for states to 'recalibrate' performance standards to align with NCLB. States were allowed to set their own standards; Kansas could have chosen to retain their pre-NCLB standards but they reduced performance standards.

As explained in Removing Barriers to Better Public Education at http://www.kansaspolicy.org/researchc... and in a video on our web site at www.KansasPolicy.org , proficiency levels in 2000 and 2001 on state assessments were very similar to those on NAEP. But proficiency levels doubled in 2002 when KSDE reduced performance standards.

The reporter on this story says that standards were increased in 2010 when Kansas adopted Common Core Standards but that is not true. The higher performance standards associated with CCS do not go into effect until at least the 2015 school year.

By the way, we asked KSDE and the State Board of Education to comment on a draft of the study referenced above before publication...specifically asking if there was anything factually inaccurate. They did not respond.

May 6, 2013 at 6:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

School board studies 'critical race theory' in work on equity issues

The first step in closing achievement gaps is to remove barriers that force low income families to send their children to the school assigned by their zip code. Unfortunately, Kansas education officials are largely opposed to allowing Regents universities or technical schools to operate public charter schools; they also are opposed to allowing low income families to apply for tax credit scholarships.

Florida used these and other strategies to close achievement gaps. You can see the large gains they've made compared to Kansas and the nation at http://www.kansaspolicy.org/researchc...

It's also noteworthy that Florida accomplished these improvements while spending about $1,000 per pupil less than Kansas.

May 5, 2013 at 9:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Brownback says higher sales tax needed in case state loses school finance lawsuit

One needn't be proficient in math to know that money can only be spent once. If the sales tax is used to balance the budget, it can't also be used to pay for a lawsuit.

April 21, 2013 at 10:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The fight over sales tax has consumed Kansas politics for three years

that page has had a lot of views...first I've heard of any issue. Happy to send you the PDF if you want...send me a note at dave.trabert@kansaspolicy.org

April 18, 2013 at 6:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The fight over sales tax has consumed Kansas politics for three years

It is not necessary to increase the sales tax in order to balance the budget. A detailed plan we presented to legislators is at http://www.kansaspolicy.org/researchc...

April 18, 2013 at 4:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The fight over sales tax has consumed Kansas politics for three years

Mike_Marvin is correct in saying that there are large amounts of overtime pay. In fact, an Activity Therapist at Larned State Hospital collected over $50,000 in overtime last year. Total overtime statewide was up 28% to $13.2 million. That doesn't include any overtime pay for universities; the Dept. of Administration says they don't have access to that information.

See details at http://www.kansasopengov.org/StateGov...

April 18, 2013 at 4:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Brownback to tour in support of his higher education budget

What a cute but absolutely misleading statement. "A slight increase?" You call 85.6% slight?

There is nothing misleading or intellectually dishonest about showing changes in raw dollars AND the inflation rate. In fact, Table 2 shows the annual change in inflation, tuition and state aid so readers could see exactly what took place each year.

April 18, 2013 at 10:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

KU outlines significant cuts if Legislature cuts higher education funding

Reductions of administrative costs are noticeably absent in the list of proposed cuts. According to KBOR, KU-Med Center spent $18.4 million in FY 2012 on functions that include "executive management, fiscal operations, general administrative services, logistical services and public relations/development." They also spent $17.5 million on Academic Support. http://data.kansasregents.org/public_...

We (Kansas Policy Institute) just completed a 10-year review of spending, tuition and state aid for the six state-funded universities which includes several options reduce the cost of providing a variety of services and using cash reserve build-ups to avoid tuition increases and service cuts. http://www.kansaspolicy.org/researchc...

April 18, 2013 at 8:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Brownback to tour in support of his higher education budget

Again, not true. You don't like the results (and/or the provider of the results) and therefore claim that additional data is necessary, which is not the case. More data would possibly provide additional insight but it's absence in no way detracts from the validity or reliability of available data.

April 16, 2013 at 5:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Brownback to tour in support of his higher education budget

Not true. The calculation we did of universities' ability to absorb a small reduction in aid was based solely on General Fees, which are not restricted. See page 7 and end note #10.

More data is always good. Unfortunately, the analysis you suggested would require some data that is not available and may well not exist. KBOR publishes enrollment data by graduate and undergraduate but not FTE enrollment for in-state and out-of=state on an annual basis. They also do not publish revenues, which even if available would have to provided separately for each cohort. And both sets of data would have to be reflected net of scholarships.

April 16, 2013 at 12:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )