Legislative action a concern to schools

Monday night’s school board meeting was predominately somber.
Superintendent Brian Pekarek gave a brief legislative update. A few proposed bills have Kansas school districts concerned, but one  stands out among the others: Changing the Kansas Constitution on how to fund education.
Currently, the Kansas Supreme Court determines how much money is needed to fund an adequate education for Kansas children. Legislators want that control, and last Wednesday the Kansas Senate passed a bill which gives legislators the exclusive right to make spending decisions for Kansas schools. Iola’s representative Caryn Tyson voted in favor of the constitutional amendment. Jeff King, Independence, and who formerly represented Allen County as its senator, is the bill’s sponsor.
The amendment needs support from two-thirds of the Legislature and then would need to be approved by Kansas voters.
A second amendment is being pushed. HCR 5002 is the constitutional amendment regarding judicial selection.
“There is good news because we don’t expect it to pass in the House,” Pekarek said. “We anticipate intense lobbying (led by Governor Brownback, to convince House Republicans to support both amendments).”
No action is anticipated this week, but Pekarek said it was critical that school officials maintain regular dialogue with their House members on the amendments.
In addition to legislative concern, Pekarek said the school district should be worried about the possible banning of Common Core, the new curriculum used by schools nationwide.
In 2010, the Kansas State Board of Education approved the Common Core. The House Education Committee introduced a bill to ban the new standards, saying they were pressured to adopt it through federal funding or the No Child Left Behind waivers.
State Board of Education chairwoman Jana Shaver said Kansas was not pressured to adopt the Common Core.
“It was an initiative of the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, who saw a need for some consistency between states,” Shaver said in an interview with The Capitol-Journal.
If the bill passes then all the work school districts have done to write or begin implementing the Common Core standards will have been a waste.
“The bill has nothing to do with the Common Core but everything to do with politics,” Pekarek said. “They want to throw the baby out with the bath water.”

BOARD MEMBER Darrell Catron had two pieces of information to share from the ANW Cooperative.
At the beginning of the school year there was great concern about how much funding the co-op would receive. Catron said Governor Brownback has chosen, through his budget, to give state co-ops the “bare minimum.”
This will ultimately mean $500 per student. There are roughly 200 special education students in the district. Catron said if this is the case then the co-op will either have to cut staffing or ask the district for more money.
Catron did have a little piece of good news for the board. Though they will soon have to start providing health insurance for all their paraprofessionals or choose to take the fine, Blue Cross Blue Shield is working with the cooperative to find a comparable package for the paras that would cost less than taking the fine.
By law, the co-op would only be required to provide health insurance nine months out of the year since paras do not work three months out of the year. 

BOWLUS director Susan Raines was presented to the board for the Bowlus’ biannual trustees update.
Raines was pleased to inform the board that usage of the Bowlus has increased this year. The first semester there were 412 students enrolled in classes at the Bowlus and 418 in the second semester.
There will be two additional dance recital companies coming in to use the Bowlus and the city and Emergency Management are using the venue for meetings and informational sessions.
“We are happy to have them there,” Raines said.
Raines said she is almost finished programming for next year and in the fall she will be comparing dollars to see what the Bowlus could afford.
The fountain has been installed at the front of the Bowlus and TLC, along with volunteers, will be building the landscape. Dan Foster, landscape architect designer, will be returning to turn the fountain on in the spring.
An irrigation system is being installed which will keep the plants alive, Raines said.
“The fountain is a real stunner in front of the building. It looks like it really belongs there,” she said.
 
IN OTHER news, due to a grandparent’s concern there will be an additional handicapped accessible parking spot created at Jefferson Elementary.
The board approved a bid from Kansas Truck of $65,543 to purchase a new Blue Bird school bus.
School principals reported a surprisingly low turnout at parent-teacher conferences earlier in the month.
McKinley reported a 70 percent turnout and Iola Middle School reported 61 percent. Both are lower than last year’s turnout.
The principals saturated the community with notifications and said they didn’t know what caused the low turnout.