Kansas.com: Education

District to combine south-side schools

LORI YOUNT — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:03 CST

The best place for the Wichita district's new south elementary school will be the current site of Lewis Open Magnet Elementary School, district officials said Thursday.

Administrators will ask school board members Monday to combine the new neighborhood school and Lewis in the same new building at 3030 S. Osage, near 31st Street South and Seneca. The current Lewis building would be torn down after the new school opens.

In the $370 million bond plan voters approved in November 2008, Lewis was slated for a $1.25 million classroom addition and renovation, and a $10 million new elementary school in the south part of the district was to be built separately.

Cost of university housing may rise

DAVID KLEPPER — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:03 CST

TOPEKA — The cost of room and board at Kansas' public universities is inching up, even as tuition increases and state funding for higher education drops.

The Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday tentatively approved increases in the cost of campus housing and cafeterias. A final vote is expected next month.

For a typical student at the University of Kansas, room and board would go up 2.6 percent, to $6,982. For a typical student at Kansas State University, it would go up 3 percent, to $6,954.

New south-side school could be built alongside Lewis Magnet

LORI YOUNT — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:23 CST

WICHITA — The best place for the Wichita district's new $10 million south elementary school would be at a current school's site, district officials said today.

They said lack of land availability and preliminary boundary studies led them to consider expanding a current school site.

Administrators will ask school board members Monday to approve a change in the district's $370 million bond plan so the new neighborhood school will be built beside a new building for Lewis Open Magnet Elementary School, 3030 S. Osage. The current Lewis building would be torn down after the new school opens.

Regents: State needs to consider tax hike

JOHN HANNA — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:05 CST

TOPEKA — Two members of the board overseeing Kansas' higher education system said Wednesday that the state needs to consider raising new tax revenues because of its budget problems.

Board of Regents members Dan Lykins and Gary Sherrer made their comments after a top aide to Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson met with the board. Budget Director Duane Goossen said not only is Parkinson planning to make cuts next week, but state spending might have to remain at reduced levels into 2012.

Education and social service advocates already have called for consideration of additional taxes. Many members of the Republican-controlled Legislature worry that any such measures will slow an economic recovery.

Class project becomes way to help family

LORI YOUNT — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:52 CST

Most students in Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas class start a business to get their first taste of profit.

Three Northwest High School students, though, saw the class project as an opportunity to help a family coping with the death of the students' classmate and teammate.

Deontre "Tre" Reed, a 15-year-old Northwest sophomore, died Sept. 22 of lung cancer.

Driver's ed official hopes state funding will be safe

Associated Press — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:05 CST

HUTCHINSON — While more than a dozen Kansas school districts dropped driver's education programs last year because of the state's budget troubles, the programs' state director hopes the trend won't continue.

Last year, the state used funding from speeding tickets that is designated for driver's education programs for other needs. That caused reimbursements to districts for each student in a driver's ed class to drop from $100 to zero, before going back up to $38.

That loss of funding prompted several districts to drop driver's education, but at least 88 percent of the state's districts continue to offer classes, said Joan Peterson, who oversees driver's education courses in Kansas.

States eye college-credit exchange Web site

DAVID A. LIEB — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:06 CST

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. —A dozen Midwestern states are studying the creation of a college-credit exchange that could make it easier for college dropouts to finally complete their degrees.

The project would create an electronic database where people could post documentation about the college credits they have earned from various institutions, their work training and other relevant educational experiences.

Colleges and universities then essentially would bid for the opportunity to enroll those students by indicating how many credits they would accept, what additional courses would be needed to complete their degrees and how much it would cost.

Board hears tech ed magnet plans

LORI YOUNT — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:06 CST

The Wichita school district's $10 million technical education magnet high school program should be a first choice for students — not a back-up if college looks unlikely, administrators and business leaders told school board members Monday.

"It's a chance to redefine technical education in Wichita," said Jim Means, district director of career and technical education.

The program should offer career paths in four areas of emphasis: health science, information technology, manufacturing, and biotechnology and energy systems.

Read and wiggle with preschoolers

SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:06 CST

Before gathering at the table for a big meal or settling on the couch for another football game, consider picking up a book — and wiggling.

Educators and librarians are promoting reading and fitness with the featured book for this year's Kansas Reads to Preschoolers event: "Wiggle," by Doreen Cronin.

"It's a fun book that can get you moving, and that's what we hope will happen," said Cathy Gray, director of Healthy Kansas Kids and a former child care provider.

Schools: Lawsuit better than cuts

LORI YOUNT AND JEANNINE KORANDA — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:49 CST

Schools are gearing up for a legal battle against state legislators — a battle that lawmakers say Kansans can't afford. A coalition of 57 districts met last week to discuss suing the state because of cuts to education funding that they said could leave schools short on money for years to come.

The Schools for Fair Funding coalition, which has recruited 44 members since July, said it wants to encourage even more districts to join before they meet in December, when it could decide to take legal action.

"They see (litigation) as the lesser of two evils," said John Robb, who has served as the lead attorney for Schools for Fair Funding since 2006. "It's better than the other options. They could take budget cuts, harming kids, or stand up for their rights in court."

In 25 years, program grew from Mo. to world

JOE ROBERTSON — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:06 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The news was spilling from journals on neuroscience:

Children were born to learn from the cradle. Their brains thirsted, and parents had to be their first and best teachers.

But parents weren't exactly reading scientific papers, so in the early 1980s, Mildred Winter set off like a self-described missionary to take the message into the homes of Missouri parents.

Gifts to KU athletics up sharply

ANDY HYLAND — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:06 CST

LAWRENCE — The pace of giving to University of Kansas' athletics has increased more dramatically than giving to academics.

Since the year ending June 30, 2000, annual giving to KU Athletics has increased more than 300 percent, from $7.5 million to $31.3 million, in the year ending June 30, the most recent figures available.

With state budget cuts possible again for higher education, athletics programs and facilities continue to prosper, with $7.8 million in improvements to Allen Fieldhouse recently unveiled in time for basketball season.

Wichita students receive H1N1 vaccine at school clinics

SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:28 CST

Eight-year-old Jessica Roberts half-smiled, half-winced as nurse Trish Bell plunged a needle filled with H1N1 vaccine into her arm. After a quick "ow-ow-ow-ow" muttered under her breath, the tears flowed.

"It's good, because if you don't get the shot you might get really sick," Jessica said afterward, wiping her tears and licking a candy cane. "But it really hurt."

Jessica, a third-grader at Peterson Elementary School, was one of about 750 Wichita students vaccinated against the H1N1 virus Friday in the first round of school clinics.

Catholic schools celebrate excellence

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:04 CST

Several schools run by the Wichita Catholic Diocese received "standard of excellence" awards from the state.

The award requires a certain percentage of students to score higher than passing on state assessments. The Catholic school students take the same standardized test that public school students are required to take in the spring.

Private schools aren't required to participate in state assessments, but some do to maintain types of national accreditation.

Nation's expected teacher shortage turns into a glut

HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:04 CST

LAWRENCE — When Lilli Lackey started college, talk of a growing teacher shortage gave her confidence that a job would be waiting for her when she got out.

Now, six months after graduating, she considers herself lucky just to find work as a substitute.

Across the country, droves of people like Lackey are unable to find teaching jobs, in large part because the economy is forcing school systems to slash positions. The teacher shortage that many feared just a few years ago has turned into a teacher glut.

KU monarchs to take part in gravity study in space

RON SYLVESTER — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:29 CST

Chip Taylor is used to people giving him strange looks.

As director of Monarch Watch and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas, Taylor has placed radio tags on butterflies and tracked them across pastures and plains.

Sending monarchs to space is not that far-out an idea to him.

State school board fears more cuts

Associated Press — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:03 CST

TOPEKA — Members of the State Board of Education expressed frustration Tuesday that further cuts in Kansas public schools would hurt the quality of education.

The 10-member board received an update on state finances and their impact on the 293 school districts in Kansas. Last week, a group of economists and policymakers slashed the state revenue outlook by $235 million for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010.

Board Chairwoman Janet Waugh said there's little reason to be optimistic that schools won't see further cuts in the coming weeks and during the 2010 legislative session.

Wichita schools pay to join fair-funding coalition

LORI YOUNT — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:04 CST

Saying they don't want school funding to come to a lawsuit, Wichita school board members voted unanimously Monday to spend more than $89,000 to join a coalition of schools whose previous lawsuit forced a massive increase in state funding.

The full membership would give the state's largest district a vote along with dozens of other school districts that belong to Schools for Fair Funding. Since 2005, the Wichita district has been an associate member, which carries dues of $19,500 and no vote.

"Being a part of the voice, of the discussion, is very important," superintendent John Allison said. "We are decreasing funding at a time most states are increasing funding."

Four Wichita elementary schools to offer H1N1 vaccine

LORI YOUNT — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:17 CST

Wichita schools will begin offering H1N1, or swine flu, vaccines at four elementaries on Friday.

The schools are Benton, Kensler, McCollom and Peterson elementary schools.

No dates for any other school clinics have been set.

Teens' artificial trees will store CO2

MARA ROSE WILLIAMS — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

When is a tree that acts like a tree not a tree at all?

When it's a metal tower that absorbs, transforms and stores carbon dioxide and is made by two teenage math and science whizzes as a research project on climate change.

Tyler Clark, 17, of St. John, and Ben Davis, 16, of Wichita, both high school juniors attending the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science at Fort Hays State University, expect to build the "artificial tree towers."