A special committee of Kansas lawmakers has approved a series of recommendations for revamping education. They range from tossing out the current tests for students to giving the state oversight of bonds issued by school districts. Republican Representative Ron Highland is chair of the committee.
“I think we boiled it down with some very salient recommends and if I were betting I’d say that several of those will be looked at closely,” says Highland.
Democratic Senator Anthony Hensley says the report focused on conservative ideas and left a lot of things out. He points to a lack of recommendations on special education costs and the different needs of wealthy and poor districts.
“And those are all very important parts of what should be going into a permanent new school finance formula. None of that was talked about,” says Hensley.
Lawmakers will consider the recommendations as they work on a new school funding formula. It’s still not clear if that will happen this year or wait until the next legislative session.