A Look Inside the Kansas State Board of Education
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The March meeting of the Kansas State Board of Education made no headlines in the major media but the future of Kansas’ youth, the financial future of the state and its citizens’ freedoms all depend, in part, on how the Board works and the decisions it makes.
A few glimpses into the Board’s operation are telling.
Federal or local control
Discussions about national education programs including Common Core Standards, Race to the Top and special education, all offering federal funding with certain strings attached, sparked concerns over who controls education standards and practices in Kansas. Board members also expressed concerns about whether parents can remove their child from special education programs without the approval of educators.
Missing data
Several Board members objected to presentations by Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) employees to the Board or the press without notifying the Board in advance and without providing the data behind the presentation.
Fiscal responsibility
Walt Chappell continues to stand apart from the board by asking for fiscal responsibility in Board actions. Other board members, including Board Chair Janet Waugh indicated they either don’t believe it’s part of their job or they’re not interested.
Quality education
Shortfalls in state revenues are pressuring districts to cut their budgets and board members expressed a range of concerns. If teachers have to be cut, David Dennis (Dist. 10, Wichita) wants the decision to be driven by teacher quality rather than tenure. Sue Storm (Dist. 2, Overland Park) expressed support for districts making high-profile cuts so voters would contact legislators to maintain funding. Ken Willard (Dist. 7, Hutchinson) asked if the intense focus on assessment testing was really in the students’ best interests.
The full audio of the March 9, 2010, meeting is here.
Posted under Education, News, Video.
Tags: Assessment testing, Common Core Standards, David Dennis, Janet Waugh, Kansas State Board of Education, Ken Willard, KSBOE, Race to the Top, Special Education, Sue Storm, Walt Chappell
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Taxpayers Look Beyond Hype to Reality in Education Funding
[...] the March 9 meeting Chappel arranged for a report on $7 million in spending before the board. Waugh asked if anyone – [...]
8:35 am on March 16th, 2010
Federal or Local Control? The answer is simple IF you read the KS Constitution!
The Legislature decides which “public schools, educational institutions and related activities” get “organized and changed in such manner as may be provided by law.” (Article 6, section 1).
The State Board of Education has “general supervision” (key word: general) of public schools (Article 6, section 2).
The Legislature should fire (Article 6, section 3) the Commissioner of Education, as the state board of education’s “Executive Officer,” for failing to manage the funds allocated to the public schools (Article 6, section 2) properly (live within a budget). Using taxpayer money, meant to be used to educate our children, to “lobby” for more taxpayer money, is irresponsible and shows a lack of management skills! (has he registered as a lobbyist?)
The Legislature Should fire (Article 6, section 3) the Presidents of the local school boards which fail to manage their district’s budgeted taxpayer money properly (Article 6, section 5).
The Legislature should “limit, change or terminate” those programs which are wants and not needs since the local school board isn’t doing their job of managing their district (Article 6, section 5).
Finally, the Legislature should consider impeachment for any judge (Article 7, section 27 & 28) ruling unconstitutionally. That is, demanding that the legislature provide this or that! It’s not the court’s job to decide what to provide – it’s the legislatures (Article 6, section 5)!
9:17 am on March 18th, 2010
Mr Edwards,
There has always been a joint responsibility for education since we all have joint citizenship, both state and Federal. When the US Constitution was ratified they accepted the actions of the Congress under the Articles of Confederation which included the sale of federal lands to support local education.
In your rant you called for the legislature to “fire” local school board presidents etc, clearly outside of the powers to over ride the results of local elections.
The legislature has spent more money to incarurate prisoners than to educate the most valuable asset that the state has, our children.
It is the role of the judiciary to interpert the constitution, and the legislature to follow and the executive to enforce . To concentrate the extreme power in the legislative branch would upset a balance of power that serves the minority as well as the majority citizens of the state