Lawrence Journal-World 11-08-13

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JAYHAWK HOOPS SEASON TIPS OFF TONIGHT KU takes on Louisiana Monroe at 7 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse Sports 1B

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Examining our public schools Reports on administrative job growth get mixed reviews By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com

TOPEKA — New reports focusing on the increase in administrative employees in Kansas school districts were greeted with skepticism by several legislators on Thursday, but others said the reports showed there is something wrong with the way schools spend taxpayer dollars. Ben Scafidi, a senior fellow with the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, told the Special Committee on Education that public schools have experienced a “staffing surge” in which the number of school employees grew at a higher rate than the increase in students. In Kansas from 1993 to 2011, student enrollment grew by 7 percent, teachers by 16 percent and the number of what he called “administrators and other” staff by 36 percent, the report said. He said if Kansas had limited the growth of nonteaching staff to the 7 percent increase in student enrollment, it could have saved $346.7 million per year or given every teacher a $10,000 pay raise. State Sen. Jeff Melcher, R-Leawood, said, “We’re getting bigger and bigger Melcher and more expensive and student achievement levels are not changing at all. What we are doing is not working.” But several other legislators scoffed at the analysis. State Rep. Ed Trimmer, DWinfield, said the study gave the impression that school districts were top-heavy with administrators, when many other professions were included in this nonteach-

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo

LIBERTY MEMORIAL CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL seventh-grader Thomas All, left, provides an answer during a class exercise in Algebra 1 Thursday. Kansas remained among the highest scoring states in the nation in 2013 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP exam, a test that’s sometimes called “the nation’s report card.”

State Rep. Ed Trimmer, D-Winfield, said the study gave the impression that school districts were top-heavy with administrators, when many other professions were included in this nonteaching category, such as special education instructors, reading specialists, school psychologists, audiologists and speech pathologists. ing category, such as special education instructors, reading specialists, school psychologists, audiologists and

Kansas students score high on ‘nation’s report card,’ but achievement gaps widen By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com

Kansas remained among the highest scoring states in the nation in 2013 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP exam, but there are widening achievement gaps between racial groups and economic classes. The test, sometimes called “the nation’s report card,” measures fourth- and eighth-grade student performance in reading and math. It is the one standardized test given uniformly to a representative sample of students throughout the country. It is often used by state and federal officials as

While it is reaffirming to see that Kansas students continue to outperform the national average, these results provide a very clear road map as to where we should be tailoring our efforts to make sure our children are ready to successfully compete in a global workplace.” — Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker a barometer of how states compare with one another and how individual states are making progress over time. According to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education,

overall average scores in reading and math among Kansas students were virtually unchanged since the last NAEP exam in 2011, but they were still among the 10 Please see SCORES, page 2A

Please see SCHOOLS, page 2A

Program invites public to create free libraries from salvaged wood By Sara Shepherd sshepherd@ljworld.com

Make a little library Want to participate in Logs to Literature’s little free libraries project? An informational meeting and planning session is set for noon Nov. 16 at the Lawrence Creates MakerSpace, 512 E. Ninth St. Building workshops are expected to be scheduled in the spring.

An example of a Little Free Library at the home of Lawrence resident C.J. Brune.

INSIDE

Windy Business Classified Comics Deaths

High: 62

A new plan for trees cut down because they were in the way of the Lawrence Public Library renovation is like a chip off the old block: Turn the salvaged wood into little free libraries. The Logs to Literature program is inviting community members to design

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and build the mini-libraries — enclosed bookshelves on pedestals, often placed in front yards, from which neighbors and passers-by can borrow a book. Initially, Logs to Literature organizers sought artists to create sculptures from the wood, which they salvaged from Seventh and Vermont streets last winter. A lot of people said they were inter-

ested, but only one actually turned in a formal proposal when the time came, said coorganizer Matthew Burke, associate professor of sculpture at Kansas University. Logs to Literature needed to regroup. When librarian Karen Allen asked about getting some wood for the library’s teen Please see LIBRARIES, page 2A

Westar goes for wind The largest electric utility in Kansas has signed a contract to buy 200 megawatts of electricity from a wind farm that will be built in northern Oklahoma. Page 3A

Vol.155/No.312 32 pages


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