A Kansas legislative committee has delayed work on a report that recommends ways to overhaul public schools. The committee is supposed to review K-12 education and make recommendations the Legislature can use when writing a new school funding formula.
Republican Representative Ron Ryckman moved to delay work on the final report. He says that will give legislative staffers a chance to review the document and identify where individual suggestions are coming from.
“I think if you weren’t able to sit in and listen to the testimony, you’d want to see where the comments came from. You can then use that as a document to guide your decisions going forward as we face a new formula,” says Ryckman.
The draft recommendations range from outsourcing many functions in schools to throwing out the current state tests. Democratic state Representative Ed Trimmer says the report is based only on conservative ideas.
“None of the other side of those issues was even provided. It was just basically a one-side point of view, and it was a very anti-education point of view, in my opinion,” says Trimmer.
The committee chairman who wrote the report, Republican state Representative Ron Highland, says he thinks it’s fair.
“We’re all human. We see things a little differently, all parties do, and that’s just part of it. I thought it was fair, yes. Everybody has their say. They had their say today. Let’s redo it and start again,” says Highland.
They’ll work more on the recommendations after the legislative session kicks off next week.
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A legislative committee has delayed work on a report recommending ways to overhaul K-12 education in Kansas. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, the committee was formed to study education in advance of lawmakers writing a new school funding formula.
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The draft recommendations range from outsourcing many functions in schools to throwing out the current state tests. Democratic state Representative Ed Trimmer says the report is based only on conservative ideas.
“None of the other side of those issues was even provided. It was just basically a one-side point of view, and it was a very anti-education point of view, in my opinion,” says Trimmer.
The committee chairman who wrote the report, Republican state Representative Ron Highland, says he thinks it’s fair.
“We’re all human. We see things a little differently, all parties do, and that’s just part of it. I thought it was fair, yes. Everybody has their say. They had their say today. Let’s redo it and start again,” says Highland.
They’ll work more on the recommendations after the legislative session kicks off next week.