We Don't Need No Education (Funds)

www.kansascity.com/2010/03/04/1788835/misouri-kansas-miss-cut-for-special.html

With the KCMSD facing an estimated $50M budget deficit and schools across Missouri and Kansas lowering their budgets nearly as fast as the congress raises the debt ceiling, you would think that either state would do everything possible to present a case for some share of the $4.35B being shelled out by the U.S. Department of Education. And maybe they did. If so one of two things happened; the school system as a whole in the bi-state area is much better off than we realize & doesn’t need additional funding, or state education departments did a poor job of representing the need/plan to reform failing school districts. Assuming that local government is privy to information that this type of funding is being offered, council members that represent the district should have been hounding the proper folks in Jeff city to help put this presentation together and insure the KSMSD is at the front of the line when the funds start to trickle down.
On a side note… it is interesting that schools require a stringent application and review process in order to receive funds while TARP money was handed out without discretion or accountability.

Stop the Nonsense Indeed...

By now you have probably read about or noticed the yard signs for the “Stop the Nonsense” campaign directed at the City Council by the Heavy Constructors Association(with Steve Glorioso at the helm). When you consider that the mayor’s current budget proposal allows for a $12M dollar decrease in capital maintenance(roughly the same amount of cash taxpayers will hand over to shore up the debt payments on the P&L District)from last year this seems to be a reasonable issue campaign put forth for the great good of the city. $35M is not sufficient to shoulder the necessary maintenance of our roads, bridges, sidewalks and countless other fundamental assets. I’m sure we can all agree that the campaign being put forth by the Heavies is clearly one of self interest, but it may also be mutually beneficial to K.C. residents. Enter the politicos…

On Thursday 3/4/10 ordinance no. 100177 sponsored by Council members: Sharp, Riley, Ford, Jolly and Curls, is on the agenda for the Transportation & Infrastructure committee. The ordinance suggests amending the city charter in order to create a Capital Projects Department. Sounds great to me because what we need at City Hall is some additional bureaucracy. The suggestion is that the current model of distributing funds for and managing capital projects is too fragmented and inefficient and to solve that we should add another cook to the kitchen. While I agree that there are certainly efficiencies to be gained; rather than further complicate the process why not look at ways to streamline the workflow between individual departments and the Capital Improvement Program. There are certainly synergies that exist with engineering, contract management etc. that should allow the city to operate as a holistic organization instead of individual silos and without handing over responsibility for a large chunk of our budget to council member who is staring at term limits and would like to continue receiving a paycheck from the city.

K.C. Residents Fight for Their Right to Keep a Broken School System

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1758697.html

In this third of five forums offered to K.C. residents regarding new superitendent John Covington's "Right Sizing" plan which entails closing nearly half of the district's school buildings the apparent consensus is that parents are content with the current state of the district. Not only are they content with it... They are fighting to keep it!

Fighting to keep the staus quo that is bloated administrative costs, underused buildings, an estimated 50% graduation rate and a budget that is staring at a $50M deficit.

Either folks don't understand the concept of the plan or they are so self absorbed that they refuse to consider any idea that might be less convenient for them. I think everyone can agree that widespread change is needed to even reach mediocrity much less a good or great school district and everyone is willing to let that change happen as long as it doesn't directly affect them.

Simple math says that this plan is a neccessary first step. A school distrcit can't operate on a deficit so in order to close that $50M gap KCMSD must raise it's topline revenue by $50M or cut cost accordingly. Since revenue streams are in short supply it looks like we need to get the spending under control.

I guess I just don't understand the rage over the consolidation of under utilized buildings. It's not as if the programs are being cut, they're just being made to operate as efficiently as currently possible. I do have a suggestion that none of the enraged parents have yet to make: If you don't want any schools to be consolidated then pony up money for the budget gap, it looks to be around $3k per enrolled student. I'm guessing we won't have many takers on that plan either.