TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An independent reviewer has backed the validity of a study that found improving Kansas’ public schools could cost an additional $2 billion a year.

Jesse Levin, a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., told a joint meeting of the House and Senate K-12 budget committees Thursday that the study conducted by Texas A&M University professor Lori Taylor and Jason Willis, director at the San Francisco-based nonprofit education research agency WestEd, was “fairly cutting-edge and done very, very well.”

Lawmakers hired Levin to conduct a peer review of the study, which found that Kansas would need to spend an additional $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion a year on education to boost its high school graduation rate to 95 percent and raise significant numbers of students up to grade level or college readiness on statewide reading and math tests.

Legislators are facing a Kansas Supreme Court mandate to increase spending on public schools. When the results of the study were released earlier this month, they sent shockwaves through the Statehouse, especially among conservatives who quickly dismissed the findings.

Levin said he initially was troubled that Taylor and Willis recommended an increase that was vastly higher than that of a study done in 2006 amid another school finance lawsuit. At that time, the Legislative Division of Post Audit, or LPA, found the state needed to add roughly $399 million in new spending.

However, Levin said the LPA study was based on the cost of providing services that schools are legally required to provide, while the Taylor study looked at the cost of achieving certain educational outcomes like raising the graduation rate and improving test scores. He also said that he believes the LPA study recommended less than it should have, but that both studies indicate the state needs to allocate significantly more money to public education.

On Wednesday, the night before Levin’s review was released, the House K-12 Education Budget Committee passed out a new funding plan that would phase in only about $522 million in additional money for schools over the next five years. Lawmakers are under a deadline to pass a new funding plan before their scheduled adjournment next week for a break. That’s because the Kansas Supreme Court has said the state must file briefs with the court no later than April 30, detailing what lawmakers did to pass a funding plan that will meet constitutional muster.

After briefing lawmakers, Levin told reporters that he thinks the court should take the new study into account when it next reviews the case.

“It seems like a solid study to me after reviewing it,” he said.

CLOUD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a woman for alleged sex crimes.

Just after 2p.m. Thursday, police  arrested Nicole Reed, 42 of Clyde, at Concordia Junior-Senior High School in the 400 Block of West 10th Street on a Cloud County warrant, according to Concordia Police.

Police transported her  to the Cloud County Law Enforcement Center and she was held on a $20,000 Bond for for aggravated indecent liberties with a child and indecent solicitation of a child.

Reed was a substitute teacher, according to USD 333.

Her first court appearance is April 11, according to the Cloud County Attorney.

On Monday, police arrested 53-year-old Kevin Johnson. The USD 333 vocal music teacher is charged with unlawful sexual relations, according to the Cloud County Attorney.

 

BEAR LAKE COUNTY, ID—The missing mother and two children have been located safe. They were found in Montpelier Idaho, according to a media release from Goddard police. The children are now in the custody of Idaho Children and Family Services.  Authorities have not filed any charges in the case.

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SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are asking the public for help to locate a missing Kansas woman and her two children.

Audrey Lappan, and her two children, Grayson age 9 and Mabel age 15 months were last heard from Monday, March 26, according to Goddard Police.

Audrey is possibly traveling in a dark blue Honda Pilot, KS tag 711-KUA.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the Goddard Police Department at (316) 794-2051 or 911.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Bed bugs have been found in a sitting area at Kansas City International Airport.

The Kansas City Star reports that the discovery was made Thursday inside Terminal B. Airport spokesman Kathleen Hefner says the infestation was on an upholstered chair in an area near several restaurants.

Hefner says the mezzanine area of the terminal was closed temporarily to clean for the bugs. She says no food prep areas were contaminated.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a bill that would have allowed adoption and foster care contractors to refuse placements to gay and lesbian couples based on religious grounds.

The House voted down the measure Thursday, hours after the state Senate approved nearly identical legislation. The bill now goes to a conference committee, where lawmakers from the House and the Senate will negotiate a final bill.

Sen. Barbara Bollier, of Mission Hills, called the legislation “sick discrimination.” But supporters of the bill say it’s needed to attract more organizations to help in adoptions.

In other parts of the country, the American Civil Liberties Union has taken adoption agencies to court over similar policies. ACLU of Kansas says it would be willing to do so as well.

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By Peyton Kraus
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — More than 7,000 Kansas children were in the foster care system in 2017, but only about 2,700 families were licensed for foster care. according to the Department of Children and Families.

At that rate, each licensed family would need to host on average two or three children in their home in order to place every child.

On Thursday the Senate passed HB2481 as amended creating the Adoption Protection Act, which gives faith-based agencies the right to not place children into certain homes if such placement would conflict with the agency’s religious values. The bill could cause a bigger need for even more licensed foster care families as some currently qualified families could be rejected in the future because of an agency’s religious values. This would mean placement agencies could restrict same-sex couples or single-parents from fostering Kansas children.

Controversial debate arose during Wednesday’s debate between senators as emotions tied to both religious beliefs and personal lives came into play. Senators Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee), Caryn Tyson (R-Parker) and Susan Wagle (R-Wichita) voiced their concerns on the remarks about Catholicism during debate.

“The prejudice displayed yesterday toward the Catholic faith was extremely disappointing,” Wagle said. “The faith that houses, clothes, feeds and provides health care to people all over the world was referred to as ‘sick.’ The faith that teaches love is the greatest commandment and that love is shared with every person, all who are created in God’s image, including immigrants, LGBT individuals and those with disabilities was mocked for its beliefs.”

After voting in support of the bill Thursday, Tyson said she supported families wishing their children to be placed in a home aligning with religious values.

“No one should be forced to choose between giving up a child–or adoption–or living by one’s deepest religious convictions,” Tyson said. “For too long, governments big and small have treated conscious clients with hostility instead of protection.”

Although it passed with a 28-12 vote, HB2481 had the highest number of opponents on any bill voted on by the Senate on Thursday Opponents of the controversial issue spoke out on their reasons for voting against the bill. Their arguments against the bill included needing the focus on the child being placed in any loving home, as well as barring any possibility of discrimination for foster care families.

Sen. Ed Berger (R-Hutchinson) said his experience working with foster care children in Wichita showed him the importance of focusing on the child during the placement process and their needs, despite what their foster-family might include otherwise.

“Those young people didn’t care if they were placed in a single-sex home, a single-parent home or a faith-based home,” Berger said. “All they wanted was a loving family relationship. We owe that to these children.”

Sen. Lynn Rogers (D-Wichita) expressed similar thoughts after voting against the bill in order to keep the priority of the agencies and the financial assistance they are given on the needs of the child, especially in cases which their parents have already given up parental rights. He also said the bill is decreasing more the necessary amount of foster care families through discrimination while using state financial assistance.

“Foster placement and adoption should make the needs of the child the first priority,” Rogers said. “This bill seeks to disqualify those already qualified for foster placement and it allows companies to discriminate with state tax revenue.”

Peyton Kraus is a University of Kansas junior majoring in journalism from Minneapolis.