A recent visit to Central Middle School in the Kansas City, Kansas school district brought ed commissioner Bob Corkins into contact with local offficials who asked for more flexibility.
Said J.D. Rios, an assistant superintendent with USD 500, “The only thing that makes charter schools different is flexibility. We need to continue to have flexibility to make public schools better.”
That’s no reason to deny the expansion of charter schools. But it does point out the need to provide more room for experimentation within traditional public schools.
Did you know that the Wichita schools are still operating under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Justice? Since 1971.
Roughly 2,200 students are bused for racial purposes. District superintendent Winston Brooks says that he tried to offer some proposals to DOJ, but was rebuffed by regional officials, who said, “we’re too busy.”
The Wichita school district board does not have many fans of Bob Corkins’ idea of using vouchers to pay for some students’ education.
Board members also object to the idea, floated by the new state commissioner of education, to make it easier to set up charter schools.
On the questions of charter schools and their ability to deal with less read tape, Chip Gramke, a board member, asked “Why not decrease the red tape for all schools?”
Why not, indeed?
But board president Connie Dietz talked about the old standbye: give us more money.
The KC Star asks the question: What’s the matter with Kansas schools? The answer: it depends.
The state does get above-average results on national assessments. But serious achivement gaps remain–and one must ask whether the “above average” is good enough in a global economy. (Take a look at national comparisons, and you will find that U.S. students lag those of many countries.)
Proposals to let direct public money to privately run schools (through parents) are drawing a lot of attention in Kansas.
So what do the private schools have to say?
According to the Salina Journal, they haven’t been asked.
One school official said “I was a little surprised” to hear of the proposal to let low-income families in poorly-performing districts take up to $5,000 in vouchers to private schools.
Some schools expressed doubts: “I’ve never seen government money that didn’t have strings attached.” And yet the Supreme Court of the U.S. has ruled (in a case involving Ohio) that there is no constitutional barrier to public funds going to private schools–as long as parents, not public officials, determine where the money goes.
It would be up to legislators to make sure that any “strings” attached to public money would be minimal.
While the concern for strings is real, it should not be exaggerated. Many private colleges, for example, accept Pell Grants and state funds all the time.
Welcome to the Kansas Education Reform blog. This is a place where you can read links to and commentary on issues relating to K-12 education in the state of Kansas.
