President’s Perspective – Kansas Association of School Boards

28 Jan

President’s Perspective: Early resolution needed to school finance

by C. Patrick Woods KASB President Topeka USD 501 Greetings fellow board members. It’s that time again – the Legislature has returned; the inauguration of the new governor has occurred; and the 2019 legislative session has begun. This year, as in every year past, education is atop the list of hot topics the Legislature and the new governor must address. You’ll recall there is a current case at the Kansas Supreme Court concerning school finance, Gannon v. State of Kansas, which called into question the state’s adherence to the constitutional requirement for adequate and equitable school finance. You’ll also recall that last session the [...]

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13 Dec

President’s Perspective: ‘Keep it simple’ is a winning equation

by C. Patrick Woods KASB President Topeka USD 501 As we head into the holidays, my mind drifts back to the music that I associate with the season. During Christmas, my family would often play music by artists from the Motown Record Label, such as The Temptations, The Jackson 5, etc. We were not alone in our love of Motown. Throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, Motown was a virtual hit factory, discovering talent in every corner of the country. Many record labels tried to emulate the Motown success. Legendary music executive and Motown founder, Berry Gordy, had a maxim to which he [...]

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23 Oct

President’s Perspective: KASB annual conference will be exciting

by C. Patrick Woods KASB President Topeka USD 501 Greetings fellow school board members. I hope the first nine weeks of the fall semester wrapped up well and you’re enjoying the fall weather. In addition to many fall concerts, football and volleyball games and countless other activities that take place this time of year, the KASB Fall Regional Summits have wrapped up. During these meetings, KASB staff members hit the road and met with board members, educators and community members in each region of the state. They discussed the issues and trends shaping the context in which we work as public school officials. [...]

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25 Sep

President’s Perspective: Board members must rebut false claims

by C. Patrick Woods KASB President Topeka USD 501 Greetings fellow school board members. It’s that time again; election season! If you’re like me, you probably get a kick out of reading political ads from candidates across the state. I find it fascinating to observe the various rhetorical tools employed by candidates to make their arguments to the voters – their choice of language to describe policies they support as opposed to those they oppose, the way they choose certain statistics to support their arguments and how they define the context that frames the issue. Let’s take the issue each of us spends [...]

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28 Aug

President’s Perspective: School employees’ work matters for all

by C. Patrick Woods KASB President Topeka USD 501 Last month, I had the pleasure of heading back to my hometown of Oklahoma City for my 20th high school reunion. While there I did the usual that everyone does: check up on old friends and acquaintances, learn about each other’s families and careers and hear about the progress of the high school. I did have one unexpected pleasure while there – our old history teacher and one of our former administrators showed up at the Saturday evening event. This surprise inspired a standing ovation and sustained applause from my classmates and I, and it [...]

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31 Jul

SBR President’s Perspective: Every child deserves first-rate education

by C. Patrick Woods KASB President Topeka USD 501 CLICK HERE to Download as a pdf Greetings fellow board members. It’s my great honor to serve as president of KASB for this year. I want to thank you all for all that you do to help your districts realize our shared goal of a first-class public education for all students, and for your commitment to our association. I especially want to thank immediate past-president Dayna Miller, who has led with grace dignity in trying situations. Education is a "kitchen table" issue in my house, as my children attend school in my district, where my [...]

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25 Jun

SBR President’s Perspective: Cherishing my year as president

by Dayna Miller KASB President Basehor-Linwood USD 458 KASB has celebrated 100 years of service throughout this year. What an amazing year to be President of KASB. As my term comes to an end, I will cherish the moments when I worked with past KASB Board Presidents to help celebrate this milestone. CLICK HERE to Download as a pdf I enjoyed learning more about the history of education in Kansas and how school boards and KASB have been instrumental. I enjoyed visiting with past board members and Presidents and hearing their stories of struggle and accomplishments along the way. We hosted a Western Regional meeting [...]

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29 May

SBR President’s Perspective: KASB is the ‘truth machine’

by Dayna Miller KASB President Basehor-Linwood USD 458 A lot has been going on in Kansas education over the past couple of years at the state level. After the tax cuts of 2012, state revenue repeatedly failed to meet expectations, causing extreme strains on the budget, including for our schools. By 2016, voters had enough and elected a more school-friendly Legislature which repealed most of the tax cuts and increased K-12 funding. CLICK HERE to download the full issue. Now, many of those legislators who took courageous votes on taxes are seeking re-election. They will face an onslaught of criticism from deep-pocket special interests whose [...]

School Board Review, President's Perspective, Federal Issues, Local Boards, Student Issues, Safety and Security

26 Apr

SBR President’s Perspective: Shout our story from the rooftops

by Dayna Miller KASB President Basehor-Linwood USD 458 Click Here to Download The Legislature lurched to a contentious end of its regular session and, like many recent legislative sessions, the main argument was over school funding. We, as education advocates, know there is probably nothing more important to fight for than the quality of the education we provide for the next generation. But I’m sure there is a certain amount of weariness felt by some in the general public about these seemingly never-ending, political battles over school funding. For those Kansans who don’t spend the majority of their waking hours in the school finance [...]

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23 Mar

SBR President’s Perspective: Student advocacy a ‘teachable moment’

by Dayna Miller KASB President Basehor-Linwood USD 458 Click to Download PDF The March 14 student walkouts around the nation and in Kansas to protest gun violence happened without any major problems. Students across the country demonstrated peacefully with a message that the status quo is unacceptable. The First Amendment is alive and well for Kansans, both for those who demonstrated and for those who did not. I’m proud of the way young people are focusing their energy on this issue after the mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 people. I hope their activism doesn’t stop, because if there is one [...]

School Board Review, President's Perspective, Federal Issues, Local Boards, Student Issues, Safety and Security