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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Kansas Legislature going back to "separate and unequal" funding for schools


Yes, they are, bless their fuzzy little heads.  This from Topeka Capitol Journal today:


Legislation would change state aid based on poverty levels

From the article:
 
Less than a month after a court ruled that Kansas schools are underfunded by $440 million, a bill has been introduced in the Senate that could cut millions in funding for at-risk students, hitting high-poverty areas the hardest.

Under the current school funding formula, districts receive part of their state aid based on the number of their students who receive free lunches — a measure used to gauge poverty.

Senate Bill 103, introduced in the Committee on Education, would change that.

Districts still would receive the funding for students receiving free lunches in kindergarten through the third grade. For fourth through 12th grade, however, the aid would be linked to the number of students who test below proficient.


Apparently the Republican State Legislature in Topeka right now isn't familiar even with Kansas' own history.

Apparently, tragically, they aren't familiar with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling originally from right there in Topeka.

Sick.


A friend of a friend, on Facebook today, mentioned this magnificent quote on seeing this posted at the Topeka newspaper's page:

"I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness...Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance: establish & improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [tyranny, oppression, etc.] and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance." -- Thomas Jefferson

Someone needs to educate the legislators at the Capitol, badly and quickly.






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