Overview

Kansas schools have done very well because Kansas families and Kansas teachers have made sure of it. However, there are a lot of things that can and must be done to help the teachers and the families. SOME of these things can and should be done by the state, some by other levels of government and some by the people themselves. The following are my thoughts based upon conversations that I have had to date with a number of educators, administrators, parents, and other experts. My view at this time is that increasing taxes to fund education would be foolish because there are many economies that should be pursued first. New taxes would only fund more expensive problems and do little for the students or the teachers.

Administrative Consolidations

There is too much administrative overhead in the Kansas system. Consolidation of administration would not move any schools and would have little noticeable effect on the students or the teachers. It would, however, save a lot of money – that could be better used in the classroom or in the taxpayers’ pockets.

Teacher Certifications

The teacher certification situation needs to be reviewed with a view towards helping schools to find, attract, hire, and retain the best teachers. Certifications from some other states should be accepted. We currently recognize no other state’s certification. This is expensive and wasteful provincialism.

Principals need to have the ability to accept a small number of teachers on “conditional” certification if they are otherwise qualified but not yet certified. This authority is appropriate for those to whom we give the responsibility to run the schools. This should be combined with alternative routes to certification that will maintain standards while encouraging more quality people to answer the call to the teaching profession.

Suitable Education

The state is constitutionally responsible for providing a ‘suitable’ education for each child. Yet, there is no agreement as to what the definition of that is. This results in an unbounded claim on the state treasury – and the taxpayer. The legislature needs to correct this deficiency and help align expectations.

Testing

Too much classroom time is taken up with testing. The ACT is used by all kinds of colleges and yet we have federal, state, and local tests in many grades on the same subject. We must adopt a national test and stay with it. Reduce the amount of effort being wasted on testing. No child left behind is a good program in theory but it is cumbersome and an example of too much testing. Kansas has its own examples of exactly the same thing. It needs to be cleaned up.

Special Education

Funds for special education are taken directly from general education and so is the time and focus of the teachers. A better review process is needed to insure that the needs of the special education child is being met while avoiding the tremendous cost to teachers in classroom time – costs that are paid by the other students. Mainstreaming is appropriate in some cases and not in others. We must do better at wisely using education resources in special education. Consolidation, discussed above, could be helpful in both reducing costs and improving the quality of the special education offered.

Community Involvement

There are many examples of local patrons helping schools in many ways and this should be encouraged and made easier with regulations that facilitate school administrators being able to accept and use such funds and other assistance.

Impact Funds

Because the federal and state governments have property in a district or because federal and state laws prohibit taxing some educational and charitable organizations there are districts with constrained tax bases. In these cases the federal and state governments have an obligation to offset to some degree the effects of their actions and rulings. The legislature should insist that these offsets be made.