January State Board News
State Board agendas and materials can be found at http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdmaterials.shtml
and are usually available the Monday of the week prior to the State
Board meeting. Meetings are also now audio-streamed on KanEd Live.
Click on http://www.ksde.org/commiss/boardstream.html
to log on. Prior meetings are also archived for 30 days following
the meeting.
State Board Doubles Budget Request
By nearly unanimous votes, the State Board this week approved almost
$80 million in additional requests to the Kansas Legislature. The
Board voted to request $300,000 to fund KAL-Tech (Kansas Academy
for Leadership and Technology), $2.3 million to develop a statewide
longitudinal database, and $77 million to fund all-day kindergarten
programs at 1.0 fte.
Budgets from state agencies are due to the Governor in mid-September.
At that time, the State Board requested an additional $77.5 million
over last year's appropriation, with most of the money going to
an increase in the base state aid.
Read Under The Dome, the daily
legislative update on the KNEA website, to see what progress, if any, the State
Board requests make.
Charter Law Amendments Sought
At the request of Commissioner Bob Corkins, the State Board voted
6-4 to request changes to the Kansas Charter School statute. Supporting
the request were Steve Abrams, district 10, Arkansas City, John
Bacon, district 3, Olathe, Kathy Martin, district 6, Clay Center,
Connie Morris, district 5, St. Francis, Iris Van Meter, district
9, Thayer, and Ken Willard, district 7, Hutchinson.
Opposing the request were Sue Gamble, district 2, Shawnee Mission,
Carol Rupe, district 8, Wichita, Bill Wagnon, district 4, Topeka,
and Janet Waugh, district 1, Kansas City.
Characterizing the changes as "minimal" and as "subtle
catalysts for meaningful growth in quality charters," Corkins
outlined two different sets of amendments.
The first would set a base amount of per pupil aid for all charter
school students. This amount would be BSAPP + student weighting
factors. Now, because they are part of USDs, charters typically
get the amount of funding that other pupils in that USD generate.
The second would allow charter applicants who are denied a charter
by the local BOE to appeal that decision to the State Board.
During lengthy debate, Board members questioned Corkins on the
specifics of his proposals, particularly the appeal of a denied
charter. Several Board members expressed unwillingness to overturn
decisions of local boards.
"We don't know local situations. If we approve this, we're
saying we don't trust local boards," explained Janet Waugh.
"This is a Pandora's Box and is not clearly thought out,"
said Sue Gamble. "If we approve a charter that is not connected
to a USD, who gets the money? It sounds like a voucher to me and
I thought we had tabled that."
Corkins responded that the charter school would be a public school
and could decide for itself, in the charter, how it would be managed
- and, therefore, who would get the money.
Ken Willard took the argument a step further. Expressing his own
concerns about administration/monitoring of locally denied but SBOE-approved
charters, he suggested that legislators be asked to change the law
to allow non-public charters with the State Board as the chartering
agency.
Read Under The Dome to keep
following this issue during the legislative session.
2006 Meeting Calendar Approved
The State Board set its 2006 meeting calendar and will continue
to follow the schedule of meeting the second Tuesday/Wednesday of
each month.
In February, the Board will also meet on Monday, February 13, for
a mid-term goal-setting meeting. Time of the meeting has not been
determined.
In April, the Board meeting will be in district 8, Wichita. In
October, the Board will meet in district 10, which includes counties
SE, S and SW of Wichita.
In May, the second day of the Board meeting will be in Kansas City, where Board
members will visit the Kansas State School for the Blind and the Kansas State
School for the Deaf.
In other action, the State Board
Chairman Steve Abrams asked board attorney Dan Biles to report
at the February meeting about KS obscenity laws and how they relate
to literature in KS schools
Directed the Special Education Advisory Council to study
issues relating to standards for autism programs
Heard Barbara Hinton, Legislative Post Auditor, explain the
LPA Cost Study Analysis
Set a passing score for the art teacher licensure test (p.
93)
Approved recommendations from the Professional Practices
Commission to deny 4 applications and revoke 3 licenses (p. 63-91)
Recognized the Kansas superintendent and principals of the
year (p. 45)
o John Morton, USD 373, Newton
o G. A. Buie, USD 365, Garnett
o Kathleen Sooter, USD 345, Seaman
o Billie Jo Drake, USD 234, Ft. Scott
Received an update on the QPA and state assessment processes
(p. 37 & 95)
Saw a demonstration of the Kansas Education Comparative Performance
and Fiscal System data warehouse (p. 97 and http://online.ksde.org/cpfs
)
Approved a modification to the Tri-County Interlocal cooperative
agreement 607 (p. 103)
Approved a consolidation agreement between USDs 104 and 278,
both in Jewell county (p. 107)
Approved a consolidation agreement between USDs 221 and 222,
both in Washington county (p. 105)
Approved a request for USD 239, North Ottawa County, for
a bond election (p. 153)
Approved recommendations from the waiver review committee
for 25 special education endorsements, 1 library media endorsement,
1 journalism endorsement and 1 computers endorsement (p. 111)
Approved recommendations from the Evaluation Review Committee
o Fort Hays State University, continuing accreditation through 3/31/10
(p. 115)
o MidAmerica Nazarene University, accredited with conditions, through
6/1/06 (p. 117)
o Bethel College, accreditation, through 3/31/10 (p. 119)
o Tabor College, accreditation with conditions, through 6/1/06 (p.
121)
o New programs for Tabor, Sterling, Ottawa (pp. 123-128)
Approved a contract with CETE, KU, for reliability and standard
setting studies on the Kansas Performance Assessment (p. 137)
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