Public school enrollment grew for the 5th year in a row; 47% of all public school students now attend charter schools; and 1 of 4 third-graders within district boundaries is reading on grade level. KCPS school board elections are coming up in April. What do *you* think the main issues are?
Last month DESE released enrollment data for the 2018-19 school year. Overall public school enrollment grew for the 5th year in a row, to 26,762 K-12 students. KCPS grew by 66 students; the charter sector grew by 170. While charter growth slowed compared to previous years, it’s still notable given the closure of Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy, a 320- seat charter school, last summer. 47% of all public school students within our district boundaries now attend public charter schools.
I’ve updated this one-page overview of Public Education within KCPS Boundaries to reflect the recently released enrollment and demographic data. I’ve also included the updated 3rd grade reading data (more on that in future posts) and a few important facts about public education within KCPS boundaries.
Following on last month’s post about finding a replacement for FRL – this year I’m using the “At-Risk” designation as a proxy for student need instead of the more traditional Free & Reduced Lunch percentage. “At-Risk” is the percentage of students who are directly certified as being beneficiaries of SNAP, TANF, or who are homeless, unaccompanied, migrant or in foster care.
(I’m using the “At-Risk” label instead of “direct certification percentage” because 1) I’ve seen other school districts use it; 2) it’s more descriptive; and 3) it’s shorter!)
The “At-Risk” designation signifies a higher level of poverty than FRL eligibility. It’s not a perfect measure, and it doesn’t capture the full spectrum of need (for this reason a multiplier of 1.6 is used to approximate a school’s total low-income student population). But at this point it’s more accurate than FRL data, which over 75% of schools within KCPS boundaries no longer collect; the FRL data for some of our schools is now five years old.
Your input, please – upcoming KCPS board elections
Elections for the KCPS school board, scheduled for April 2, 2019, are in less than two months. As a result of a 2013 state mandate, the number of board seats will shrink from nine to seven, sub-districts have been re-drawn, and all seats will be up for election. If you want to learn more about why this is happening, KCUR has some good coverage you can find here.
It goes without saying (hopefully) that Set the Schools Free believes all candidates, irrespective of their political affiliations or ideologies, should have a good command of the facts. To that end, I’m in the process of putting together a short election primer for candidates and voters, to help inform the debate.
But to inform MY thinking I really want to know what YOU think the key issues are. What do school board candidates need to know? What are the key issues facing our district going forward? What are your biggest concerns as a new board is installed? Where do you see the biggest opportunities?
Leave a comment below or, if you prefer, send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.
