leenia -

The Kansas Supreme Court a few years ago ruled that the State had failed to meet the mandate of the State Constitution which states that "an education" must be provided to all children.

By Court Order, it was required that school budgets be increased by a minimum of 30% just to meet the minimum requirement of the State Constitution.

The State Legislature responded with an increase of approximately 15%, bringing funding to 88% of the absolute minimum that teh Court said was necessary. Distribution of the increase in funds was Gerrymandered so that it was directed almost entirely to 10% of the schools that already had the "richest support" (because they were in areas where the lobbyists meet the legislators and the most money was available for candidate support).

The Governor has just cut nearly 40% from the already ILLEGALLY INADEQUATE school budgets, based on a school population at the time of the judgement. Student populations have increased, according to the somewhat vague reports I've seen, by nearly 30% since the order was issued.

There have been numerous and regular "consolidations" here, with schools having small populations being merged to eliminate waste, but classroom sizes are already near 70 students per class in many areas (and most teachers have 3 or 4 classes every day). The budget cuts eliminate nearly all "teaching assistants" who could at least grade papers. Many teachers will now be trying to keep track of 280 kids unassisted - but I'm sure each kid will get careful and individual attention to any needs (yeah, sure).

The Wichita grade school my kids went to 20 years ago had approximately 1800 students in one school, grades K thru 6, with about 30 teachers. The last time I drove by, there were about 15 "temporary classrooms" (in what are essentially trailers) where much of the "playground" used to be, so I assume it's larger now.

There are NO "small schools" left anywhere that I've heard of, although in some of the "smaller districts" the average distance the kids commute to get to school is already over 30 miles - twice a day - so that kids from several towns can all go to a single school.

A year or so ago, Kansas ranked about #36 (of 50) for spending per student, so there were worse places. Governor Brownass apparently is shooting for #50.

John