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April State Board News

(Thanks to UTW leaders for attending the April State Board meeting in Wichita.)

The Kansas BOE met in Wichita on April 11 & 12.  The board spent the greatest percent of its time on sex education, state assessments and high school reading lists.

Twenty-six residents spoke during the Open Forum, and every one of them spoke either for or against mandatory “abstinence-only” sex Ed as part of a school accreditation.  Eight spoke in favor of such a mandate and twenty spoke against.  The board itself debated the issue for over an hour before the members decided to put the item back on a future BOE meeting agenda.

Blue Valley School District made a presentation on its policies and procedures related to approved reading lists.  The presentation was thorough and professional, but some board members still have the desire to have more State Board control over the clearly local issue.

Alexa Posny made her last presentation to the Board before departing for her job at the federal Dept. of Ed.  She explained the merits of and a potential calendar for implementation of the “student growth” model of measuring student achievement on state assessments.  She favored a change to the “student growth” model during the next round of state assessment updates in 5-7 years.

The Board had an interesting discussion on the possibility of using the ACT test as a high school state assessment tool.  A few states have gone to this, and Kansas is one of many more states considering that assessment option.

KNEA Legislative Contacts

Blake West, President
Peg Dunlap, Director, Instructional Advocacy
Mark Desetti, Director, Legislative and Political Advocacy
Terry Forsyth, Director, Political Action

The KNEA Lobby Team consists of elected leaders and staff. The Lobby Team welcomes member feedback on issues before the Legislature and on this site.