State Rep. Bill Otto and Kansas Policy Institute’s Dave Trabert will discuss Kansas education during an open forum from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Humboldt High School auditorium.
A plan to revise the education finance formula, existing public vouchers and charter schools systems and Kansas student achievement data will be reviewed and discussed during the forum.
Otto, a retired teacher, said he expects the environment to resemble a debate, considering how the event was conceived. The Le Roy Republican said the KPI, a conservative think tank, regularly distributes information about state policy.
“They send out these e-mails and most people probably just trash them, but I don’t. I often beg to differ and e-mail back points,” he said.
It’s not just an Internet feud.
“I have been one who has frustrated them on the House side (of the Legislature). I’m kind of their stumbling block,” Otto said, referring to Wichita-based KPI. “If they can convince me something is good, generally speaking, we can get it through. If I think it’s not good, I’m usually successful at blocking it.”
After a recent series of e-mails concerning education finance, Dave Trabert, president of KPI, offered to discuss the issue with Otto face-to-face at a venue in the representative’s home district.
“Well I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea. Bring it on,’” Otto said.
Trabert said after a presentation on student achievement and education finance, questions from the audience will be permitted.
“Whether it’s education or job creation, whatever the issue is, you have to look at where you are and understand what all the baseline statistics are and decide if you want to keep doing what you’re doing,” he said. “Or do you want to make changes.”
By looking at student achievement, changes need to be made, Trabert said. According to Kansas Department of Education data, only 54 percent of Kansas juniors read grade-appropriate material with full comprehension, he said.
“We don’t have decades more to throw away more generations of kids while we inch toward what we all might consider to be more reasonable levels of achievement,” Trabert said.
Trabert said KPI takes a lot of heat because many education leaders “make it their official position that spending more money is what needs to be done.”
“We’ve proven in Kansas that’s just not true,” he said. “We’ve spent $2.5 billion more on schools over the last 10 to 12 years and the achievement on the national test scores have barely changed.
“Thank goodness more money isn’t the answer,” Trabert added. “Kansans don’t have billions more.”
Education finance forum Wednesday
