How to really improve education in Kansas

Much controversy has swirled around the way Kansas schools are financed, with virtually all attention focused so far on whether, and how much, school funding should be increased. In fact, school funding has been going up steadily in Kansas for decades, yet achievement scores have barely budged.

We owe it to our kids and their parents to make significant improvements before continuing to spend even more money.

In the private sector, the cure for poor performance is more competition. Applying that simple lesson to public education is long overdue.

Unfortunately, educational choice is much too limited, which means policies need change.

For example, students theoretically can change schools within their public school districts or transfer to a neighboring school district. But in practice, this choice must be ratified by the school to which students want to transfer. Kansas law should adopt the much wider choice systems that now exist in other states, such as New York and Massachusetts.

Most other states also afford their students the ability to attend other public schools that are not subject to the normal rules and bureaucratic procedures that govern conventional public schools. Research has shown that high-performing charter schools do a substantially better job educating their students, especially from low-income families, than their conventional counterparts.

But state and local school boards, which the Kansas Constitution vests with exclusive authority over such matters, so far have not been receptive to charter schools. This means that even outstanding charter networks, like KIPP, which operates a middle school in Kansas City, Mo., don’t operate here or elsewhere in the state. Citizens who want more choices should encourage members of school boards to be more receptive to charters in the future.

One bright spot is a program established in 2014 to allow Kansas’ lowest-income students in some of the state’s worst-performing schools to attend a private school of their families’ choosing. Tax credits are offered for donations to fund these scholarships, and those children most in need of help are offered a hand up. This program is in its early stages but is giving children a real chance at an education that fits their individual needs.

Success for Kansas Students recognizes that one system cannot serve each of Kansas’ 450,000 public school students perfectly. I’ve spent my career in K-12 education – from the classroom to the superintendent’s office – and understand the good work our public schools are doing. But still too many students are being left behind despite these best efforts.

While the K-12 debate in Kansas focuses on money, Success for Kansas Students is working to improve individual student outcomes, and will leave no stone unturned to afford each student an opportunity at success.

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 5:02 AM with the headline "How to really improve education in Kansas."