Brownback/Koch policies close schools in KS.

[THE_DEVIL]

Two school districts in Kansas announced this week that the academic year would end early because they lack sufficient funding to keep the schools open.
Concordia Unified School District will finish up six days early, on May 15, and Twin Valley Unified School District will let students out 12 days early, on May 8, theAssociated Press reports.
In March, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) signed a school funding overhaul, which resulted in the state's schools losing a combined $51 million meant to help them finish out the current academic year. Members of the Twin Valley school board cited "the present mid-year, unplanned financial cuts recently signed into law" as a reason for the early shutdown.
The school closures are just the latest in a series of drastic measures that Kansas public services have been forced to take in recent years, as Brownback's radical tax cuts have drained state coffers of much needed revenue. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Kansas school funding levels were unconstitutionally inequitable and ordered the immediate reversal of certain spending cuts.

We don't need no education.

 

[Lone Clone]

Originally posted by THE_DEVIL:


Two school districts in Kansas announced this week that the academic year would end early because they lack sufficient funding to keep the schools open.
Concordia Unified School District will finish up six days early, on May 15, and Twin Valley Unified School District will let students out 12 days early, on May 8, theAssociated Press reports.
In March, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) signed a school funding overhaul, which resulted in the state's schools losing a combined $51 million meant to help them finish out the current academic year. Members of the Twin Valley school board cited "the present mid-year, unplanned financial cuts recently signed into law" as a reason for the early shutdown.
The school closures are just the latest in a series of drastic measures that Kansas public services have been forced to take in recent years, as Brownback's radical tax cuts have drained state coffers of much needed revenue. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Kansas school funding levels were unconstitutionally inequitable and ordered the immediate reversal of certain spending cuts.

Yup. Closing 6 days earlier means the end of civilization as we know it. Especially since, generally speaking, the last six days of the school year are the most education-intensive of all. It's when both teachers and students are concentrating entirely on scholarship.

 

[BubsFinn]

I like how it's always tax cuts that are the problem and not wasteful spending. Kansas schools (like all public schools) have plenty of money. They just spend it on stupid things.

 

[Sooner-Be-Dead]

Originally posted by BubsFinn:
I like how it's always tax cuts that are the problem and not wasteful spending.  Kansas schools (like all public schools) have plenty of money.  They just spend it on stupid things.

Nice generalization. I'm sure you're an expert on school finance.
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[naturalmwa]

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Yup. Closing 6 days earlier means the end of civilization as we know it. Especially since, generally speaking, the last six days of the school year are the most education-intensive of all. It's when both teachers and students are concentrating entirely on scholarship.

Impressive water carrying

 

[timinatoria]

How do the bogeymen Kochs have anything to do with this?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[naturalmwa]

Originally posted by timinatoria:
How do the bogeymen Kochs have anything to do with this?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:
How do the bogeymen Kochs have anything to do with this?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.  

Link?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[sijoint]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:
How do the bogeymen Kochs have anything to do with this?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.
_____________

I'm sure you are waiting.......and prepared to give us the source of this claim. Carnac "The Magnificent"...... please reveal that source!

This post was edited on 4/4 1:52 PM by sijoint

 

[naturalmwa]

Originally posted by sijoint:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.
_____________

I'm sure you are waiting.......and prepared to give us the source of this claim. Carnac "The Magnificent"...... please reveal that source!

This post was edited on 4/4 1:52 PM by sijoint

You never appreciate it when I just give you the answers so I'm going to teach you how to find them. Open Google. Search on "Brownback Koch Brothers Tax Plan" and you will have your pick of sources. Now you can find answers to most any question.

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by sijoint:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.  
_____________

I'm sure you are waiting.......and prepared to give us the source of this claim.   Carnac "The Magnificent"...... please reveal that source!

This post was edited on 4/4 1:52 PM by sijoint

You never appreciate it when I just give you the answers so I'm going to teach you how to find them.  Open Google.  Search on "Brownback Koch Brothers Tax Plan" and you will have your pick of sources.  Now you can find answers to most any question.  

Ok, I googled it and still came up with nothing legit. Help me out with your favorite link explaining the Koch tax plan.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Lone Clone]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Yup. Closing 6 days earlier means the end of civilization as we know it. Especially since, generally speaking, the last six days of the school year are the most education-intensive of all. It's when both teachers and students are concentrating entirely on scholarship.

Impressive water carrying

Somebody has to carry water to the donkeys, because even dumb asses don't deserve to die of thirst. I'm just trying to illustrate the idiocy of the OP's implication about the importance of the last six days of school.

If educators were really worried about having kids in class long enough, they wouldn't be so quick to embrace any excuse to avoid doing so, from in-service days to unnecessary bad-weather days to long breaks at the Winter Solstice and in the spring.

The Cedar Rapids schools this year scheduled students for more than a month of days off, and that doesn't include any "snow days" or other unusual occurrences. Another way of putting it is that students average about 1 day off for every 8 days they attend class.

By cracky, that wasn't the way we did it when I was going to a one-room country school. I don't begrudge today's kids their indoor plumbing, but I do think they're spoiled rotten when it comes to required attendance.

 

[Sooner-Be-Dead]

Good god. That's a terrible argument, Lone. Shave off the worthless 6 days and the next 6 take their place. Some of the better performing educational countries go to school year round.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[86Hawkeye]

Originally posted by THE_DEVIL:


Two school districts in Kansas announced this week that the academic year would end early because they lack sufficient funding to keep the schools open.
Concordia Unified School District will finish up six days early, on May 15, and Twin Valley Unified School District will let students out 12 days early, on May 8, theAssociated Press reports.
In March, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) signed a school funding overhaul, which resulted in the state's schools losing a combined $51 million meant to help them finish out the current academic year. Members of the Twin Valley school board cited "the present mid-year, unplanned financial cuts recently signed into law" as a reason for the early shutdown.
The school closures are just the latest in a series of drastic measures that Kansas public services have been forced to take in recent years, as Brownback's radical tax cuts have drained state coffers of much needed revenue. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Kansas school funding levels were unconstitutionally inequitable and ordered the immediate reversal of certain spending cuts.

Oh, the outrage!!!!

 

[Lone Clone]

Originally posted by Sooner-Be-Dead:
Good god. That's a terrible argument, Lone. Shave off the worthless 6 days and the next 6 take their place. Some of the better performing educational countries go to school year round.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I think you are talking about a different argument than the one I thought I was making.

My point is that the schools already are pretty cavalier about getting kids in class. The idea that ending the year six days earlier will make any difference is ludicrous in view of that fact.

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by sijoint:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.  
_____________

I'm sure you are waiting.......and prepared to give us the source of this claim.   Carnac "The Magnificent"...... please reveal that source!

This post was edited on 4/4 1:52 PM by sijoint

You never appreciate it when I just give you the answers so I'm going to teach you how to find them.  Open Google.  Search on "Brownback Koch Brothers Tax Plan" and you will have your pick of sources.  Now you can find answers to most any question.  

Ok, I googled it and still came up with nothing legit. Help me out with your favorite link explaining the Koch tax plan.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Bump for Natural's link.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[lucas80]

1. Where in Kansas are these districts? I've heard of Concordia, but can't place it.
2. I would like to know when being a teacher became something to vilify in this country. Like every public school teacher is a blood sucking leach.
3. It seems like a small number of days, but, it'll lead to more days. More equipment and teaching options. Soon enough kids are at a real disadvantage.
4. When I lived in the South I remember vividly people talking outside the fire station as we lined up to vote. A loud contingent was talking down a bond measure to build a high school. This is in a bottom 5 state when it comes to education. They seemed proud of announcing they wouldn't pay for a high school in this booming suburban town. You get what you pay for.
5. You get what you vote for.

 

[joelbc1]

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Somebody has to carry water to the donkeys, because even dumb asses don't deserve to die of thirst. I'm just trying to illustrate the idiocy of the OP's implication about the importance of the last six days of school.

If educators were really worried about having kids in class long enough, they wouldn't be so quick to embrace any excuse to avoid doing so, from in-service days to unnecessary bad-weather days to long breaks at the Winter Solstice and in the spring.

The Cedar Rapids schools this year scheduled students for more than a month of days off, and that doesn't include any "snow days" or other unusual occurrences. Another way of putting it is that students average about 1 day off for every 8 days they attend class.

By cracky, that wasn't the way we did it when I was going to a one-room country school. I don't begrudge today's kids their indoor plumbing, but I do think they're spoiled rotten when it comes to required attendance.

I agree 100% Lone!
I don't know why they just don't cancel the next week of school amd then pick it up and finish the year as scheduled!!

Actually this makes perfect sense for the "new" right wing fanatics. Show them who's boss! Show'em who makes the rules! Cut those damed taxes first and foremost. I know that tax is what is holding Kansas back from wealth and prosperity. Hopefully Terry, the Ioway Legislature and Ioway GOPers are taking notes! Lower taxed will end all of Ioway's problems. (Get rid of those taxes, and we can all afford bottled water!)
Friggin' taxes in Kansas would be about 11th on the list of Top 10 Problems in Kansas. I think the #1 problem Kansas has might be dunmbshits in their Legislature and government. And they have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[Hawkbiz]

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Yup. Closing 6 days earlier means the end of civilization as we know it. Especially since, generally speaking, the last six days of the school year are the most education-intensive of all. It's when both teachers and students are concentrating entirely on scholarship.

Impressive water carrying

Somebody has to carry water to the donkeys, because even dumb asses don't deserve to die of thirst. I'm just trying to illustrate the idiocy of the OP's implication about the importance of the last six days of school.

If educators were really worried about having kids in class long enough, they wouldn't be so quick to embrace any excuse to avoid doing so, from in-service days to unnecessary bad-weather days to long breaks at the Winter Solstice and in the spring.

The Cedar Rapids schools this year scheduled students for more than a month of days off, and that doesn't include any "snow days" or other unusual occurrences. Another way of putting it is that students average about 1 day off for every 8 days they attend class.

By cracky, that wasn't the way we did it when I was going to a one-room country school. I don't begrudge today's kids their indoor plumbing, but I do think they're spoiled rotten when it comes to required attendance.

Come on LC, you have to realize the difference here. The days off you are describing in CR aren't subtracted from the total number of days of school that a kid attends school in a year. It just spreads out the days throughout the year, which actually research has shown to help kids in school because it avoids the long summer break.

What the OP is referring to is a loss of days of school. Sure, the last days aren't typically quality days of school, but now the last days of school will just start 6 days earlier in the kids mind so the same thing will happen.

 

[dgordo]

This thread is s great reason why my kids go to private school.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[naturalmwa]

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by sijoint:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement. ÂÂ
_____________

I'm sure you are waiting.......and prepared to give us the source of this claim.  Carnac "The Magnificent"...... please reveal that source!

This post was edited on 4/4 1:52 PM by sijoint

You never appreciate it when I just give you the answers so I'm going to teach you how to find them.  Open Google.  Search on "Brownback Koch Brothers Tax Plan" and you will have your pick of sources.  Now you can find answers to most any question. ÂÂ

Ok, I googled it and still came up with nothing legit. Help me out with your favorite link explaining the Koch tax plan.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Bump for Natural's link.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Keep searching you'll find it if you are looking. Try getting creative with your search, like "Brownback Koch campaign contributions." I'm over of giving you fish, I taught you how to fish already.

See what a good conservative I can be?

 

[Lone Clone]

Originally posted by Hawkbiz:

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by Lone Clone:

Yup. Closing 6 days earlier means the end of civilization as we know it. Especially since, generally speaking, the last six days of the school year are the most education-intensive of all. It's when both teachers and students are concentrating entirely on scholarship.

Impressive water carrying

Somebody has to carry water to the donkeys, because even dumb asses don't deserve to die of thirst. I'm just trying to illustrate the idiocy of the OP's implication about the importance of the last six days of school.

If educators were really worried about having kids in class long enough, they wouldn't be so quick to embrace any excuse to avoid doing so, from in-service days to unnecessary bad-weather days to long breaks at the Winter Solstice and in the spring.

The Cedar Rapids schools this year scheduled students for more than a month of days off, and that doesn't include any "snow days" or other unusual occurrences. Another way of putting it is that students average about 1 day off for every 8 days they attend class.

By cracky, that wasn't the way we did it when I was going to a one-room country school. I don't begrudge today's kids their indoor plumbing, but I do think they're spoiled rotten when it comes to required attendance.

Come on LC, you have to realize the difference here. The days off you are describing in CR aren't subtracted from the total number of days of school that a kid attends school in a year. It just spreads out the days throughout the year, which actually research has shown to help kids in school because it avoids the long summer break.

What the OP is referring to is a loss of days of school. Sure, the last days aren't typically quality days of school, but now the last days of school will just start 6 days earlier in the kids mind so the same thing will happen.

I realize that, but I also realize that they aren't simply closing earlier because they can't afford school buses and lunches. I would assume the major costs involve keeping the facilities open. And it's interesting to read that the reason Concordia has no reserves is that the district suffered in the past couple of years under the funding formula that is being replaced. The new system is block grants, which would appear to give the districts more latitude to run their own operations.

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by sijoint:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

They are Brownback's bosses who gave him the tax plan to implement.  
_____________

I'm sure you are waiting.......and prepared to give us the source of this claim.   Carnac "The Magnificent"...... please reveal that source!

This post was edited on 4/4 1:52 PM by sijoint

You never appreciate it when I just give you the answers so I'm going to teach you how to find them.  Open Google.  Search on "Brownback Koch Brothers Tax Plan" and you will have your pick of sources.  Now you can find answers to most any question.  

Ok, I googled it and still came up with nothing legit. Help me out with your favorite link explaining the Koch tax plan.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Bump for Natural's link.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Keep searching you'll find it if you are looking.  Try getting creative with your search, like "Brownback Koch campaign contributions."  I'm over of giving you fish, I taught you how to fish already.  

See what a good conservative I can be?  

There is no Koch tax plan. I would call you a liar but I like you, so instead we'll stick with you're BSing, trolling, gullible, or poorly informed. See, I'm giving you options!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[naturalmwa]

Originally posted by timinatoria:

There is no Koch tax plan. I would call you a liar but I like you, so instead we'll stick with you're BSing, trolling, gullible, or poorly informed. See, I'm giving you options!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I like options and like our banter too, but unfortunately on this fine Easter Sunday we disagree. The Kochs do have a tax plan. It's advocated by their political organization Americans for Prosperity and it is being implemented in Kansas by the politition they bankrolled. That's not BS and if you were honestly googling for this information you should have found it by now. I suspect you are not actually looking?

 

[Sooner-Be-Dead]

Another absurd argument. That if there isn't a "Koch Tax Plan" there isn't a "Koch tax plan".

There could be more to the story. Concordia has a declining enrollment and the economics are never going to be good in that situation. But the state has probably made it worse.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Hawk in SEC Country]

Take away spring break, then you get 5 of those 6 days back.

HS and elementary kids don't "need" spring break.

 

[Kenneth Griffin]

Originally posted by Hawk in SEC Country:
Take away spring break, then you get 5 of those 6 days back.

HS and elementary kids don't "need" spring break.

spring break is for the teachers, they need a break from the kids.

 

[KitingHigh]

School budgets and taxes should be cut. There is no link between spending and performance. Private schools actually perform much higher and with significantly lower budgets.

No link between spending and performanc

 

[Hawk in SEC Country]

Originally posted by Kenneth Griffin:

Originally posted by Hawk in SEC Country:
Take away spring break, then you get 5 of those 6 days back.

HS and elementary kids don't "need" spring break.

spring break is for the teachers, they need a break from the kids.

teachers should stop being so soft.

We never had spring break in HS and the teachers seemed to survive just fine.

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

There is no Koch tax plan. I would call you a liar but I like you, so instead we'll stick with you're BSing, trolling, gullible, or poorly informed. See, I'm giving you options!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I like options and like our banter too, but unfortunately on this fine Easter Sunday we disagree.  The Kochs do have a tax plan. It's advocated by their political organization Americans for Prosperity and it is being implemented in Kansas by the politition they bankrolled.  That's not BS and if you were honestly googling for this information you should have found it by now.  I suspect you are not actually looking?  

I googled exactly what you told me to, and looked 3 pages in.

And I looked around other places too. The op's link didn't mention them either.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

There is no Koch tax plan. I would call you a liar but I like you, so instead we'll stick with you're BSing, trolling, gullible, or poorly informed. See, I'm giving you options!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I like options and like our banter too, but unfortunately on this fine Easter Sunday we disagree.  The Kochs do have a tax plan. It's advocated by their political organization Americans for Prosperity and it is being implemented in Kansas by the politition they bankrolled.  That's not BS and if you were honestly googling for this information you should have found it by now.  I suspect you are not actually looking?  

I googled exactly what you told me to, and looked 3 pages in.

And I looked around other places too. The op's link didn't mention them either.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[THE_DEVIL]

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

There is no Koch tax plan. I would call you a liar but I like you, so instead we'll stick with you're BSing, trolling, gullible, or poorly informed. See, I'm giving you options!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I like options and like our banter too, but unfortunately on this fine Easter Sunday we disagree. Â The Kochs do have a tax plan. It's advocated by their political organization Americans for Prosperity and it is being implemented in Kansas by the politition they bankrolled. Â That's not BS and if you were honestly googling for this information you should have found it by now. Â I suspect you are not actually looking? Â

I googled exactly what you told me to, and looked 3 pages in.

And I looked around other places too. The op's link didn't mention them either.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

The back story...

Brownback's agenda bore the imprint of three decades of right-wing
agitation, particularly that of the anti-government radicals Charles and
David Koch and their Wichita-based Koch Industries, the single largest
contributors to Brownback's campaigns. Brownback appointed accountant
Steve Anderson, who had developed a model budget for the Kochs' advocacy
arm, Americans for Prosperity, as his budget director. Another
Koch-linked group, the Kansas Policy Institute, supported his
controversial tax proposals. As Brownback later explained to The Wall Street Journal[/I],
"My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican
ticket to say, 'See, we've got a different way, and it works.'"

Maybe I pidgeon holed the Koch/Brownback correlation in my title, It should have been' Conservative policies' close schools in Kansas.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119574/sam-brownbacks-conservative-utopia-kansas-has-become-hell

 

[timinatoria]

Originally posted by THE_DEVIL:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

Originally posted by naturalmwa:

Originally posted by timinatoria:

There is no Koch tax plan. I would call you a liar but I like you, so instead we'll stick with you're BSing, trolling, gullible, or poorly informed. See, I'm giving you options!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

I like options and like our banter too, but unfortunately on this fine Easter Sunday we disagree.  The Kochs do have a tax plan. It's advocated by their political organization Americans for Prosperity and it is being implemented in Kansas by the politition they bankrolled.  That's not BS and if you were honestly googling for this information you should have found it by now.  I suspect you are not actually looking?  

I googled exactly what you told me to, and looked 3 pages in.

And I looked around other places too. The op's link didn't mention them either.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

The back story...

Brownback's agenda bore the imprint of three decades of right-wing
agitation, particularly that of the anti-government radicals Charles and
David Koch and their Wichita-based Koch Industries, the single largest
contributors to Brownback's campaigns. Brownback appointed accountant
Steve Anderson, who had developed a model budget for the Kochs' advocacy
arm, Americans for Prosperity, as his budget director. Another
Koch-linked group, the Kansas Policy Institute, supported his
controversial tax proposals. As Brownback later explained to The Wall Street Journal[/I],
"My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican
ticket to say, 'See, we've got a different way, and it works.'"

Maybe I pidgeon holed the Koch/Brownback correlation in my title, It should have been' Conservative policies' close schools in Kansas.

Link: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119574/sam-brownbacks-conservative-utopia-kansas-has-become-hell[/URL]

See Natural, Devil knows how to Google! Take lessons.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[joelbc1]

Originally posted by Kenneth Griffin:
spring break is for the teachers, they need a break from the kids.

Where in the hell do YOU live Kenneth?
"Spring Break" is a parental right so they (parents) can more easily coordinate family vacations. It's been that way here for decades. Most teacher's I know would gladly knock off a couple of days of Spring Break if that meant they ended the school year sooner. This is a very busy academic time (grades, college testings, ITBS testing) of the year for students and teachers and the "break" is oft distracting.
However, when discussing the school's calandar for the upcoming years, the biggest discussion from the floor often has to do with the timing and length of Spring Break. School Boards generally follow the will of these discussions (from the floor) because much of the input comes from parent who VOTE in SB elections.......generally the lowest turn-out vote of any election cycle.