NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT This year’s allergy season is worse than usual, Lawrence experts say. 1B
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TUESDAY • APRIL 22 • 2014
SCHOOL FINANCE BILL
SIGNING DAY ———
As teachers object, Brownback inks ‘good bill’ increasing school funding and repealing tenure
Rock Chalk Park class schedule is revealed ———
Basketball, soccer, volleyball among youth and adult sports By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Get ready to lace ’em up at Rock Chalk Park. City officials have released their first schedule for classes and leagues that takes advantage of new space at the city-owned recreation center at Rock Chalk Park, and it includes everything from a new youth basketball league for girls to a fitness class that touts “rock bottoms” at Rock Chalk Park. Classes and leagues are scheduled to begin in September, but sign up begins on April 27. “As a staff, we threw out a lot of ideas for new classes and programs,” said Tim Laurent, recreation operations manager for the city’s parks and recreation department. “It was a fun project. It is something you don’t get to do every day.” Please see PARK, page 2A
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
GOV. SAM BROWNBACK LOOKS AT A PETITION delivered by Aaron Estabrook, front left, a school board member from Manhattan, before signing the school finance bill Monday in his ceremonial office at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka. With Brownback are House Appropriations chairman Gene Suellentrop, R-Wichita, left and partially obscured, House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, and Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita. Estabrook had asked Brownback not to sign the bill. For news on higher ed funding please see Page 3A.
Net loss of $1.7 million for Lawrence district due to virtual schools change, officials say By Scott Rothschild and Peter Hancock srothschild@ljworld.com; phancock@ljworld.com
Topeka — Gov. Sam Brownback on Monday signed into law a school finance bill that will provide more funds to classrooms in an effort to comply with a court order but also includes controversial policy changes, including the repeal of tenure for teachers. “This is a good bill,” Brownback said. The funding portion of
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I think we did the right thing for our children.” — Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita
the bill is meant to address a Kansas Supreme Court order handed down in March to increase aid to poor school districts by July 1. The measure will provide $150 million with about half going to schools and half to property tax re-
lief, Brownback said. It also includes funding for higher education. The changes made to the funding strategy will mean that Lawrence schools have $1.7 million less to spend, Please see FINANCE, page 5A
Ridesharing plan gets thumbs up from testers By Chad Lawhorn
HOUSE BILL 2506
clawhorn@ljworld.com
l $119.6 million to equalize funding among rich and poor districts. l Repeal of tenure rights for K-12 teachers. l Corporate tax credits for certain private school scholarships. l Relaxed licensing requirements for certain kinds of teachers. l Expanded local option budget authority for school districts.
In the world of Lawrence transportation, there is already The T, the city’s bus system. Soon, there once again may be the thumb. A start-up program that aims to use hitchhiking as a way to promote ridesharing is scheduled to get a boost from city commissioners at their meeting this evening. Lawrence OnBoard is seeking a six-month exCITY COMMISSION emption from a city law that technically makes it illegal to stand alongside a city street for the purpose of soliciting a ride. Jenny O’Brien, the founder of the Lawrence-based group, said the exemption will allow the program to use about 30 volunteers to test the system. Please see THUMBS, page 4A
Many faiths gather to condemn hatred, affirm diversity By Elliot Hughes ehughes@ljworld.com
People of many faiths filled the Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation Monday evening for what organizers described as a communion to condemn violence and hatred and affirm diversity and acceptance. The evening featured a dozen speakers, with poems recited and songs performed in between their talks. Many doctrines were represented — Judaism,
Methodism, Unitarianism, Islam, Presbyterianism, agnosticism and atheism, among others. The speakers sought a show of unity in the wake of the shootings at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park that left three people dead on April 13. Rabbi Moti Rieber, who lives in Overland Park, said before the program that many Jews in Lawrence work in Johnson County and have visited the JCC there before. The shootings “hit really close to home,” he said.
Business Classified Comics Deaths
Low: 47
Today’s forecast, page 8A
FROM LEFT, PASTOR JOANNA HARDER OF THE PEACE MENNONITE CHURCH and Pastor Sherry Warren of Plymouth Congregational Church light candles at an interfaith service Monday.
Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo
Please see INTERFAITH, page 2A
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Mostly sunny
High: 71
Rieber began the evening by pointing out the fallacy in targeting one specific group of people for violence. He said the accused, well-known white supremacist and anti-semite Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., ended up killing three Christians rather than Jews. “You know what that tells me? He couldn’t tell the difference,” Rieber said. “In 50 or 100 years it might be nearly as difficult to tell so-called races apart as it is to tell the
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KU professor dies at 75 Wojciech Lesnikowski led a full life that spanned several countries and touched many students, colleagues. Page 3A
Vol.156/No.111 20 pages