Accountability Plan Deep-Sixed

A plan to make school district finances more open has been subject to death-by-committee:

A bill by Rep. Lana Gordon, R-Topeka,  called for the creation of an online system for comparing costs not only of districts but of schools. Rep. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City offered a motion to send the bill to another committee, effectively killing it.

Under the bill, the state board would study how to structure the accounting system. Districts would eventually have to report up-to-date information on each school’s revenues, expenses, balances and other details of operations.

Opponents of the measure include the Wichita and Kansas City, Kan., public school districts.

So what’s the problem?

Rep. Ed Trimmer, D-Winfield, and a member of the education and government efficiency committees, said information sought by Gordon and other legislators was already available to the public. It is considered public record, he said.

“We’ll be spending millions of dollars so someone can access something on a Web page when they could probably go to a school district and get the same thing,” he said.

Something can be a matter of public record and still not terribly accessible to the public. Putting these records on the Web would be a great way to promote transparency and openness. It would allow a taxpayer and parent in Wichita to easily make comparisions with Lawrence or Kansas City or anywhere else, for example.

And here’s another reason why such a proposal could be useful:

Rep. Jason Watkins, R-Wichita, said the bill would compel school districts to adopt a businesslike approach to reporting use of taxpayer funding.

A line-by-line accounting is a reasonable request, he said.

“If that (concept) sounds familiar to you, you’ve either done accounting work or you’re a business owner,” he said. “Any business that doesn’t have an accounting program like that is doomed for failure.”

Source: House pulls back on accounting system plan, Capital Journal, Marcdh 26, 2007.

State Board Reviews Charter Applications

The KSDE reports that at its last meeting the state board of education “received information on the twenty-one approved charter schools petitions from Dr. Larry Englebrick, deputy commissioner, Division of School Innovations. The current Charter Schools Grant allows for ten petitions to be funded for the 2007-08 school year. The twenty-one petitions were reviewed by a committee and scored according to a new rubric. The maximum score was 188, and a charter school had to receive a minimum score of 144 points for it to be recommended to the State Board.

The Board will review the recommendations and take action on the proposal at the April meeting.” (Emphasis added)

Here is some further information on 10 proposals that were presented to the SBOE. Since under current law all proposals must gain the approval of a local school district (unlike the case of many states), the charter school applications are identified here by the sponsoring/controlling district. The text is taken nearly verbatim from the SBOE’s revised meeting agenda for March 13, 2007.

Kansas City, Kansas: Maurice R. Holman Academy of Excellence.

K-5, core curriculum; planning grant of $60,000. First-year funding deferred. (The proposals to follow include not only a planning grant of $60k, but first-year funding of $155k.)

Newton: Walton 21st Century Rural Life Learning Center

“A connection for elementary school children to the richness of rural life,” project-based learning and an emphasis on healthy lifestyles.

Parsons: Health Career Academy

“Increase learning opportunities for students in a special are of emphasis, specifically health careers.”
Hutchinson: Salthawk.

Grades 9-12; “condensed classes for students that are focused on curriculum essentials.”

Elkhart: Elkhart Charter

For at risk students, giving them experience in establishing and running an actual business; with day care

Pratt: Walden Center

Career training and academic essentials in arts and communication, business management, health and human services.

Erie: Project-based school

Using creative and unconventional instructional techniques and structures.

Renwick: Replace St. Mark’s School

Technology-rich environment with individual learning plans and project-based learning.

McPherson: McPherson County Charter School

Challenging, academic expectations that are blended with applied, high demand, vocational technical skills.

Haysville: Haysville Charter School

Gives students the opportunity to identify interests and abilities through the Cooter Assessment; uses a Story Centered Curriculum; use of technology including pod casting, streaming video, and video conferencing.

Others

Petitions for Turner Virtual School and Sterling Academy were approved during the Spring of 2006. The petition for Stafford High Charter School was approved during the Spring of 2005. All three are eligible for funds under the current grant, in the amount of $155,000.

Johnson County Told: No Money for You!

Johnson County school districts, plus a few others, are allowed to seek voter approval for increased tax rates. They’re justified on the grounds that housing costs are higher in those areas, so districts need to offer teachers more money.

That may or may not be a good idea (perhaps those districts could find some ways to free up other money in their budgets, or do something other than raise salaries to attract staff). But for some legislators, the idea that some districts can raise extra money while others can’t is not fair, and should thus be limited if not forbidden.

Districts using the provision were allowed to use up to an additional 5 percent of local tax authority. Wednesday’s change reduced that from 5 percent to 2 percent over the next three years. It was pushed by a coalition of Democrats and rural Republicans on the committee and was approved on a 10-9 vote.  . . .

Rep. Deena Horst, a Salina Republican, was the main supporter of changing the provision. She said many districts thought it was unfair because only a handful of schools can access those dollars.

Source: Panel vote on schools riles county, Kansas City Star, March 15.

Room to Improve in Emporia

From the Emporia Gazette:

In reading, our data tells a success story. Every year as a district, our reading achievement has improved for our all-student group. Not only did we make AYP as an all-student group in 2006, if we maintain our achievement levels this year, we will make AYP for 2007. In each of the subgroups, we also showed improvement.

[snip]

Our math results are not as good as reading, but the data shows up to 70 percent of our “all-student” group meets or exceeds state standards

[snip]

Another look at the data tells a different story. We have far too many students who are not meeting state standards in reading and math, especially in some specific categories such as Hispanic students, and students with disabilities. We see a good progression of growth at the elementary level but that trend changes in secondary school.
Source: Plan Gives Schools Solid Plan for Improvement, Emporia Gazette, March 14.

Health Care Charter School for Parsons

Parsons may get a new charter school. From the Parsons Sun:

The recommendation for Parsons High School to establish a health careers charter school within its school went before the Kansas State Board of Education Monday.

Perbeck said the board had a lot of questions that must be answered before its April board meeting, but the health careers charter school has been recommended for funding.

Funding would be provided for the school to be implemented for the start of the 2007-2008 school year and would receive funding from the state for two years.

Source: Social Worker Finds Success, Parsons Sun, March 14, 2007

High Regulations Versus Affordability

There are some lessons in here somewhere …

State Rep. Bill Otto … has introduced a bill that would double the number of school-age children that child care facilities would be allowed to care for during days when school is not in session, and another that would allow local governments to set up their own systems for child care licensing and inspection.

Regulations already make it tough for child care facilities to operate, Otto said. Adopting “ideal-world policies” like those advocated by the National Association for the Education of Young Children in the recent survey “would just drive more child care workers underground,” he said.

“Our job is to see that children are safe and cared for. I understand that,” Otto said. “But you can’t make regulations so tough and so unrealistic that people can’t even operate.”

He said his proposal was inspired by a constituent who was fined $700 by the state health department for having one too many children in her care during an unannounced inspection. The woman had agreed to watch a school-age child during a school district in-service day, Otto said.

“Our regulations are off base; they’re not realistic. And the biggest thing is, they don’t bend,” he said. “The answer to our child care problem is certainly not more regulations.”

Source: Low child care rating only part of the story, Wichita Eagle, March 10, 2007.

Teachers are Overworked

A survey of teachers says that they are overworked.

Aren’t we all?

It also noted that most teachers spend some time on school-related work outside the school day. Again, that’s not necessarily unusual for professionals.

Another concern was paperwork. Again, that sounds familiar to many private sector employees.

Some teachers should be paid more. Others should be paid less, or even fired. But in today’s school environment, college credits and time in service count far more than performance.

Source:  Survey: Teachers overworked, lack sufficient time to plan, Lawrence Journal World, March 12, 2007

A Charter School for McPherson

McPherson County may be getting a new charter school:

We are very excited, but we know a lot has to be done,” said Kent Nye, who was appointed to head a subcommittee to look at different ways to deliver career and technical education in the county. “We have to select a director and firm up the partnership with Hutchinson Community College.”

The BOE committee that reviewed and scored each petition recommended a planning grant of $60,000 for the county charter school — an amount that must be spent by July 1, Nye said. It also recommended $155,000 in first-year funding.

In partnering with HCC, the McPherson County Charter School will be able to provide training in digital education and graphic arts. Nye said he would expect other partnerships to be developed.

Other schools expected to be approved for funding by the State Board of Education:

Little River Public School District, Kansas Career and Technical Virtual School; Newton Public School District, Walton 21st Century Rural Life Learning Center; Hutchinson Public School District, Salthawk, a public charter school; and Haysville Public School District, Haysville Charter School.

County charter school on fast track, McPherson Sentinel,  March 7, 2007.

All-Day K for All?

Should Kansans pay more to the education industry to send children to all-day kindergarten?

All-day K is growing, sometimes paid for by getting parents to pay for part of the day. That’s not always an easy sell.

Pay programs have critics, but proponents say charging is one of the best ways for districts to provide full-day programs in states like Kansas and Indiana, which only pay for half-day programs. And they say many parents accustomed to paying for child care and preschool don’t flinch at the cost.

Nationwide, 65 percent of kindergartners were enrolled in full-day programs in 2003, up from 28 percent in 1977, according to Washington, D.C.-based Child Trends DataBank, a national research organization. The rates are even higher for poor students, in part because their schools receive extra federal money that can be spent on things like kindergarten.

All-day K is on the rise in Kansas:

An estimated 64 percent of kindergartners in the state are attending full-time programs this year, up from 36 percent in the 2002-03 school year. The rise can be at least partly linked to moves by the Legislature to make it easier for schools to use a pool of state money, which is devoted to students deemed at risk of failing, on all-day kindergarten.

All-day K has its attractive features. On the other hand, the problem with American education is not the early grades as much as it is the later grades, of middle school and high school. If we are to be putting some attention on schooling, perhaps that’s where we should look.

Source: Parents Pay thousands for Kindergarten, Wichita Eagle, March 7, 2007 [Interesting. The headline could have read "Taxpayers pay thousands for Kindergarten."]

Public Money, Public Disclosure

If you take public money, you should disclose your finances. That’s the proposition that the Topeka Capital-Journal used in its battle with the group Schools for Fair Funding. The group spent $3.2 million in tax money to lobby for more state funding for schools. Their activities certainly bore fruit, with the state’s supreme court ruling in their favor, and the legislature appropriating an extra $831 million over four years.

Finally, the group has come to terms with the newspaper:

The Capital-Journal filed suit last year to determine whether Schools for Fair Funding is a public entity subject to the Kansas Open Records Act, given that it is financed with tax dollars.

Under the settlement, approved by Butler County District David Ricke last week, Schools for Fair Funding effectively agreed to provide the newspaper a “clean” set of its business documents.

[snip]

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, and House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, praised the settlement’s significance.

“It’s a reasonable outcome,” Hensley said. “I, for one, always believed they were a public entity. The newspaper was right.”

Source: School finance group settles open records lawsuit, Kansas City Star, March 6.

Governments Should Disclose Lobbying

Should units of government that lobby (or sue) the legislature for more of your money be able to hide their spending? That’s the question behind the Topeka Capital-Journal’s ongoing tussle with the school districts that sued the state.

An editorial in the Parsons Sun reminds us of the value of disclosure:

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It all comes down to taxpayers’ right to know how elected officials are spending their money.

It’s a principle that’s been reinforced again and again – through laws allowing for public examination of records and through laws allowing for open debate on decisions.

A measure introduced last week in the House would require lobbyists who do work for government agencies or government associations to report how much each is paying them.

It’s an opportunity the Kansas Legislature should take advantage of in order to strengthen public oversight of government spending.

Currently, lobbyists must file reports periodically with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission detailing how much they’ve spent on meals, entertainment and the like and on whose behalf.

As a result, the public can search for school districts, cities, counties and groups to which their governmental entities belong to find out how much money lobbyists are spending on behalf of governmental entities.

While positive, this reporting does not tell taxpayers how much the government entities pay lobbyists.

Lobbyists work for all types of government entities.

Smaller towns, counties and school districts join coalitions and leagues with lobbyists, and a few smaller government entities even have lobbyists registered with the secretary of state on their behalf.

Examples of coalitions with lobbyists where taxpayer money pays dues for membership include the Kansas Association of Counties, the Kansas Association of School Boards, the League of Kansas Municipalities, Schools for Fair Funding and many more.

Several large- and medium-size cities, counties and school districts have registered lobbyists, including Topeka, Kansas City, Hutchinson, Johnson County, Hays, Dodge City, Blue Valley schools, Wichita schools, Olathe schools and that list, too, could go on.

————

At the least, the financial records of units of government should be easily accessible, obviously apparent, and released promptly.

Source: Tracking lobbyists, Parson Sun, March 2, 2007

No Need to Shout!

WIBW reminds us of one simpe but effective technological innovation in schools: microphones.

Here’s one example:

“Emily Sorensen teaches first grade at Nottingham Elementary School in Eudora. A wireless microphone around her neck sent her voice to a receiver near her desk, then through a speaker in the back of her classroom.

Sorensen said that during the month she used the system, her pupils did better on spelling tests and she didn’t have to repeat herself as often to be heard.”

Source:  Teachers Speak Up to Help Students Learn, March 5, 2007.

Kansas Legislature: No Bullies

The House has passed a measure requiring schools to enact no-bullying policies and procedures.

Now who could be in favor of bullying? Not us. But the measure does prompt the question: why is bullying a problem in public schools and not (at least to our ears) in private ones? One reason might be that private schools are allowed greater latitude over disciplinary matters. Being made up of students (and parents) who had to make an extra financial commitment, private schools may be a more cohesive environment, which can both prevent bullying and promote efforts to stop incipient movements to create it.

Source:  Kansas City Star, March 3, 2007 Kansas bill goes after school bullies

One School for All Breeds Conflict

The Cato Institute takes an interesting view on the conflicts over schools. Here’s the executive summary of one of their more recent studies:

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It is all too often assumed that public education as we typically think of it today—schooling provided and controlled by government—constitutes the “foundation of American democracy.” Such schooling, it is argued, has taken people of immensely varied ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds and molded them into Americans who are both unified and free. Public schooling, it is assumed, has been the gentle flame beneath the great American melting pot.

Unfortunately, the reality is very different from those idealized assumptions. Indeed, rather than bringing people together, public schooling often forces people of disparate backgrounds and beliefs into political combat. This paper tracks almost 150 such incidents in the 2005–06 school year alone. Whether over the teaching of evolution, the content of library books, religious expression in the schools, or several other common points of contention, conflict was constant in American public education last year.

Such conflict, however, is not peculiar to the last school year, nor is it a recent phenomenon. Throughout American history, public schooling has produced political disputes, animosity, and sometimes even bloodshed between diverse people. Such clashes are inevitable in government-run schooling because all Americans are required to support the public schools, but only those with the most political power control them. Political— and sometimes even physical—conflict has thus been an inescapable public schooling reality.

To end the fighting caused by state-run schooling, we should transform our system from one in which government establishes and controls schools, to one in which individual parents are empowered to select schools that share their moral values and educational goals for their children.

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You can read the whole report, in PDF, at the Cato web site.

Source:
Why We Fight: How Public Schools Cause Social Conflict, the Cato Institute, January 23, 2007

Are Teachers Poorly Paid?

Are teachers poorly paid? Before you answer yes, consider a recent study that argues otherwise. “The average public school teacher was paid 36% more per hour than the average non-sales white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty and technical worker.”

We don’t object to teachers getting paid well–or at least, very good teachers. Under the current system, though, it’s hard for good teachers to be paid any more than merely passable or even poor teachers.

That ought to change.

Source: How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid? Manhattan Institute for Public Policy.

Gambling for Education?

The move to expand gambling in the state is moving along in the legislature. The reason? It’s perceived as an easy way to increase funding for schools.

From the Newton Kansan:

If a bill emerges from the House and Senate, there is a good chance Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would sign it into law. She has been an advocate for expanding gaming to generate revenue for K-12 education and other state programs.