Twenty-five Allen County residents took part in a public forum Wednesday evening at the Iola High School commons area, discussing what’s right and wrong with public education in Kansas.
For one night at least, the focus was on what school districts should be doing to assure the best possible outcomes for school children, instead of worrying about where to find funding to pay for it.
The forum was sponsored by USDs 256 (Moran-Elsmore), 257 (Iola-Gas-LaHarpe) and 258 (Humboldt) and was moderated by Carol Pitts, assistant executive director of communications and marketing for the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) in Topeka.
KASB is hosting community conversations across the state to find out what the people want their public schools to be.
Dr. Craig Neuenswander, USD 257 superintendent of schools, told Iola attendees, “There’s a lot of other things you could have been doing tonight, so I appreciate you coming out to talk with us a little bit about what kind of dreams we have for our kids and how we can turn those dreams into a reality.”
The forum’s title, “Suitable? A Conversation About Improving Kansas Public Education,” refers to the debate over public education funding in Topeka, as politicians try to define what a “suitable” education for Kansas should look like and how much it should cost taxpayers.
The forum came in the aftermath of Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to slash $50.2 million from public schools.
Fueled by hot coffee, iced tea and cookies, participants gathered around five of 12 lunch tables in the commons area.
PITTS BEGAN with a PowerPoint presentation designed to “set the stage for the conversation.”
“You hear so much from Topeka that’s really kind of doom and gloom,” she told the group. “But what we want to focus on tonight is a public school system that is geared to improvement. That’s an important distinction. We are involved in a conversation not about money. We really want to talk about what we believe should be the future of our public schools.
“The governor and legislative leaders are all seeking a definition of education,” Pitts added. “Who better to define public education than the people of Kansas? So tonight, we will be asking you to consider three simple questions, but the answers are not so simple.”
The questions:
— What do public schools currently offer that promotes intellectual, educational, vocational and scientific improvement?
— What are public schools not doing that should be added to provide such improvement?
— What should public schools stop doing because it does not lead to improvement?
