State of the State - case closed, money is bad for schools

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Well, so much for the "schools closing early" crap. The evil Republicans have decided to #tiptheschools. http://www.gctelegram.com/news/state/state-council-hands-in-emergency-funding-to-five-public-school/article_56ee7f26-b931-5a40-a45e-90d680b4cbb5.html

Tack this on to the record amount being spent on public schools in Kansas.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Maybe you guys should try a strategy that doesn't make you look so ignorant of how the world works. Something like "we were spending too much money on schools in 2009" would be a whole lot better.

Says the guy who honestly believes it costs 10% more to provide a quality education to our students now than it did five years ago - based on CPI surveys of select goods in urban areas.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Well, so much for the "schools closing early" crap. The evil Republicans have decided to #tiptheschools. http://www.gctelegram.com/news/state/state-council-hands-in-emergency-funding-to-five-public-school/article_56ee7f26-b931-5a40-a45e-90d680b4cbb5.html

Tack this on to the record amount being spent on public schools in Kansas.

The article says some got paid and others didn't. Brownback wanted to fund them all, but I guess the republicans just don't like him anymore.

Maybe you guys should try a strategy that doesn't make you look so ignorant of how the world works. Something like "we were spending too much money on schools in 2009" would be a whole lot better.

Says the guy who honestly believes it costs 10% more to provide a quality education to our students now than it did five years ago - based on CPI surveys of select goods in urban areas.

You are the guy who thinks it costs 0% more, so I'd check the cheek if I were you.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Hey guys, good news! Now we can all #tiptheschools!!! http://www.gofundme.com/tpsuuk?fb_action_ids=437486613089090&fb_action_types=og.shares

So far, we've raised a whopping $613! That's 0.15 cents per each Paul Davis voter! CAUTION: these numbers are not adjusted for rampant inflation.

What should the schools buy with it?

[Rage Against the McKee]

Hey guys, good news! Now we can all #tiptheschools!!! http://www.gofundme.com/tpsuuk?fb_action_ids=437486613089090&fb_action_types=og.shares

So far, we've raised a whopping $613! That's 0.15 cents per each Paul Davis voter! CAUTION: these numbers are not adjusted for rampant inflation.

What should the schools buy with it?

My wife collects box tops. I think that is enough.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Hey guys, good news! Now we can all #tiptheschools!!! http://www.gofundme.com/tpsuuk?fb_action_ids=437486613089090&fb_action_types=og.shares

So far, we've raised a whopping $613! That's 0.15 cents per each Paul Davis voter! CAUTION: these numbers are not adjusted for rampant inflation.

What should the schools buy with it?

My wife collects box tops. I think that is enough.

Mine too. How does that even raise money?

[Rage Against the McKee]

Hey guys, good news! Now we can all #tiptheschools!!! http://www.gofundme.com/tpsuuk?fb_action_ids=437486613089090&fb_action_types=og.shares

So far, we've raised a whopping $613! That's 0.15 cents per each Paul Davis voter! CAUTION: these numbers are not adjusted for rampant inflation.

What should the schools buy with it?

My wife collects box tops. I think that is enough.

Mine too. How does that even raise money?

I think it might be a scam, honestly. I have no idea how it works.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

I'd really like to know how the waitress plans to divvy up the GFM proceeds. It would be neat if she actually tried to follow the same byzantine formula the legislature just scrapped. At some point pretty early on she would probably stop and think "damn, this is totally mumped up - maybe the GOP was on to something."

[Rage Against the McKee]

I'd really like to know how the waitress plans to divvy up the GFM proceeds. It would be neat if she actually tried to follow the same byzantine formula the legislature just scrapped. At some point pretty early on she would probably stop and think "damn, this is totally mumped up - maybe the GOP was on to something."

She's probably going to take one of those giant checks to the statehouse so she can embarrass the pubs on tv like the KU student who did the bake sale did. The money will end up in the general fund and get spent on something other than schools, most likely.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Yeah that makes sense I guess. Plus, a novelty check is way more tweet'able. I like my way better though.

[Kat Kid]

Yeah that makes sense I guess. Plus, a novelty check is way more tweet'able. I like my way better though.

There is some sort of formula with regards to size of check $ and size of check in square inches that is undisputable but I'm not sure what the exact figures are.

[Kat Kid]

KC Public Schools does a nice job of summarizing the "increase in funding" talking point and why district's budgets aren't actually showing the additional dollars.

[Kat Kid]

Meanwhile, KS Legislature is finally figuring out the entire budget as it gets slopped together through amendments with no scoring, no clue what the actual effect will be to any of them and probably lots of issues and maybe even a special session to clean up the mess later.

[Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!)]

Meanwhile, KS Legislature is finally figuring out the entire budget as it gets slopped together through amendments with no scoring, no clue what the actual effect will be to any of them and probably lots of issues and maybe even a special session to clean up the mess later.

Sounds like the ACA, except for the "figuring out" part

[Cire]

Wow, eliminating exemptions for non profits AND lowering sales tax.  FIXED!

[Cire]

Welp, they killed the exemption, so now we have a tax cut without a way to pay for it.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Welp, they killed the exemption, so now we have a tax cut without a way to pay for it.

That would have been something else if non-profits had to pay taxes and LLCs didn't.

[star seed 7]

Lol

[Kat Kid]

Welp, they killed the exemption, so now we have a tax cut without a way to pay for it.

Amazing.

[steve dave]

yakety sax on blast/repeat

[Dugout DickStone]

How will this affect johnson county private school attenders?  Do I have more money now?

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

KC Public Schools does a nice job of summarizing the "increase in funding" talking point and why district's budgets aren't actually showing the additional dollars.

Huh, I'm not sure I would say this was a "nice job" summarizing funding facts. It seems more like the typical blather we've heard from the teacher's union and regurgitated by the media. For example...

Next, the [recent Brownback communications director press release] implies that an additional $3.75 million per year (or $7.5 million over the life of the Block Grants) that the state is spending on the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) is money that the district can spend on schools.

Impies? There's no sleight of hand here. If you read the Ingrams article cited in the press release, it makes quite clear that the increase in school funding includes contributions to KPERS. And why shouldn't they?

If you take a job which includes a pension, you'd consider that pension to be part of your compensation, right? Especially if you took a job with government, where the pension can sometimes be a relatively large chunk of your compensation? So if it's part of teacher compensation, isn't that part of the cost of educating children? Or are you saying we can educate children without paying teachers (an idea I could get behind)?

This idea that the increase in school funding really isn't an increase at all because some of that money goes to the teachers' pension fund is incredibly libtarded.

[Kat Kid]

KC Public Schools does a nice job of summarizing the "increase in funding" talking point and why district's budgets aren't actually showing the additional dollars.

Huh, I'm not sure I would say this was a "nice job" summarizing funding facts. It seems more like the typical blather we've heard from the teacher's union and regurgitated by the media. For example...

Next, the [recent Brownback communications director press release] implies that an additional $3.75 million per year (or $7.5 million over the life of the Block Grants) that the state is spending on the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) is money that the district can spend on schools.

Impies? There's no sleight of hand here. If you read the Ingrams article cited in the press release, it makes quite clear that the increase in school funding includes contributions to KPERS. And why shouldn't they?

If you take a job which includes a pension, you'd consider that pension to be part of your compensation, right? Especially if you took a job with government, where the pension can sometimes be a relatively large chunk of your compensation? So if it's part of teacher compensation, isn't that part of the cost of educating children? Or are you saying we can educate children without paying teachers (an idea I could get behind)?

This idea that the increase in school funding really isn't an increase at all because some of that money goes to the teachers' pension fund is incredibly libtarded.

The state absolutely did spend more on KPERS.  My position has been that the state's/your/KPI's argument about funding was a bit more complicated than "most dollars evar!" because 1) not adjusting for inflation 2) not using a consistent definition of per-pupil spending 3) block grants

The KPERS money has always (and still is) a completely independent funding mechanism and the dollars don't really involve the districts at all, teachers (or other govt. workers) and the state are making the contributions.  No one is saying that the state did not make contributions to KPERS, just that districts don't see the money.

The reason districts say they are experiencing cuts is as the post describes.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

KC Public Schools does a nice job of summarizing the "increase in funding" talking point and why district's budgets aren't actually showing the additional dollars.

Huh, I'm not sure I would say this was a "nice job" summarizing funding facts. It seems more like the typical blather we've heard from the teacher's union and regurgitated by the media. For example...

Next, the [recent Brownback communications director press release] implies that an additional $3.75 million per year (or $7.5 million over the life of the Block Grants) that the state is spending on the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) is money that the district can spend on schools.

Impies? There's no sleight of hand here. If you read the Ingrams article cited in the press release, it makes quite clear that the increase in school funding includes contributions to KPERS. And why shouldn't they?

If you take a job which includes a pension, you'd consider that pension to be part of your compensation, right? Especially if you took a job with government, where the pension can sometimes be a relatively large chunk of your compensation? So if it's part of teacher compensation, isn't that part of the cost of educating children? Or are you saying we can educate children without paying teachers (an idea I could get behind)?

This idea that the increase in school funding really isn't an increase at all because some of that money goes to the teachers' pension fund is incredibly libtarded.

The state absolutely did spend more on KPERS.  My position has been that the state's/your/KPI's argument about funding was a bit more complicated than "most dollars evar!" because 1) not adjusting for inflation 2) not using a consistent definition of per-pupil spending 3) block grants

The KPERS money has always (and still is) a completely independent funding mechanism and the dollars don't really involve the districts at all, teachers (or other govt. workers) and the state are making the contributions.  No one is saying that the state did not make contributions to KPERS, just that districts don't see the money.

The reason districts say they are experiencing cuts is as the post describes.

Ok, so you really believe that money spent on teachers' pensions should not be included in the amount of money spent on education. Amazing. But actually, this leads to an easy solution. If it's not part of the cost of education, then I think we can agree that we should stop wasting all this money on pensions and buy more iPads for the kids. No more pensions, more iPads = smarter kids. I'm sure the union will love this idea.

[Kat Kid]

That is not what I said.  I am describing why districts are reporting that they are feeling squeezed.  I am glad that the KPERS funding gap was closed.  I don't really have an opinion on what per-pupil spending should include, just that it should be consistent over time for comparisons sake.  I absolutely agree that it is "education spending" in the sense that someone, somewhere is paying for it and it is a benefit to teachers.

The post does a good job of explaining why, from a school district's budgeting perspective that is tangential.