Posted in Education, Illegal Immigration, Kansas, Kansas State Senate, Overland Park, Rest In Pieces Series, Senator Vratil, Taxation, TEA Party Movement, tagged Johnson County, kansas, Overland Park, Senator Vratil, State Senate, Taxes on December 24, 2010 | 2 Comments »
What about clothing, they forgot clothing!
Posted in Education, Illegal Immigration, Kansas, Kansas State House, Kansas State Senate, Rest In Pieces Series, Senator Vratil, TEA Party Movement, tagged kansas, Rino, school, Senator Vratil, State Senate on December 23, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Please take a moment to look at this table below before reading our analysis. http://svapp15586.ksde.org/k12/k12.aspx http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
| 2001-2002 | 2009-2010 | Increase | ||
| Kansas Dept. Ed. | Total Exp. | $3,586,579,119 | $5,589,549,135 | 55.80% |
| Enrolled | 446,969 | 453,324 | 1.40% | |
| Per Pupil | $8,024 | $12,330 | 53.60% | |
| Bilingual Ed. | $14,098,361 | $47,417,109 | 236.33% | |
| Hispanic | 42,791 | 71,701 | 67.50% | |
| US Census Bur. | Kansas Tot. | 2,688,418 | 2,777,835 | 3.30% |
| Ks. Hispanic | 188,252 | 244,614 | 29.90% | |
| Olathe USD #233 | Bilingual Ed. | $540,992 | $2,183,691 | 403.64% |
| Blue Valley USD #229 | Bilingual Ed. | $497,622 | $1,498,767 | 301.18% |
| Wichita USD #259 | Bilingual Ed. | $3,592,995 | $10,050,924 | 279.73% |
| Dodge City USD #443 | Bilingual Ed. | $1,291,032 | $3,013,725 | 233.43% |
| Garden City USD #457 | Bilingual Ed. | $968,692 | $2,344,808 | 242.05% |
| Kansas City USD #500 | Bilingual Ed. | $1,538,360 | $5,857,104 | 380.73% |
| Topeka USD #501 | Bilingual Ed. | $1,538,360 | $1,856,575 | 120.68% |
The “Bilingual Education” nine year total for school years 2001-2002 through 2009-2010 available by district and state totals below. Kansas $271,573,451
At the end of the last Kansas Legislative Session, a near panic occurred debating the next year’s budget. The result was a “one percent” increase in Sales Tax from 5.3% to 6.3%. Few mentioned that this was actually an 18.86% increase from 5.3%. The Kansas Department of Education and the Kansas State employees (Unions) were the recipients of the bounty, but the real winners involved several Kansas predators led by State Senator John Vratil.
Our recent post involving the Olathe School USD #233 led us to look at Kansas as a whole. We wanted to identify State tax dollars spent on educating non-English speaking students in order to complete the approved Kansas Department of Education curriculum. In this post, we assume you are familiar with terms used here: http://nolathe.net/2010/12/20/making-sum-cents-olathe-school-district/
In previous sessions of the Kansas Legislature we have already identified their (as a group) failure to amend Kansas laws to prevent illegal aliens from benefiting their access to public services and even “in state tuition” when attending state Universities. Now we learn that last session they (as a group) failed to acknowledge the $47,417,109 being spent educating EEL (Early Language Learners) non-English speakers for school year 2009-2010. We have posted this requirement can involve as few as one student in a school district and that state wide more than 100 languages are involved. The direction of this posting looks at the remaining data in table above.
According to the Social Security Administration the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm for the nine years examined (2001-2010) averaged 2.7%. Applying this to the $3,586,579,119 (2001-2002) resulted in a predicted amount of $4,438,579,106 (2009-2010). This does not allow for the KDE report of a 1.40% increase in enrollment for this period. However this increase of 6,355 students does not account for increased spending of $2,002,970,016 during the same time period.
The Olathe USD #233 data gave us a place to start looking. While the US Census Bureau data for this time period shows only an increase in Kansas population of 3.30% it also shows the increase of Hispanic population of 29.90% which largely accounts for the state wide increase. But it does not reconcile the Kansas Department of Education reported increase in Hispanic students of 67.50% which does more than reconcile the increased state enrollment. In total the information in this paragraph begs a few observations:
As is often the case, NOlathe research personnel learn more in the process than what shows up in our posts. This time we found a really neat site that allows you to create the information sought by criteria you dictate for the Kansas Department of Education. http://cpfs.ksde.org/cpfs/custom_rpts.aspx As a result we created Excel formated spreadsheets identifying costs for districts and the state total expensed for ‘Bilingual Education’ and obtained this data for your use and review:
You are certainly welcome to verify this information by:
May ELL RIP (Rest in Pieces) but there is more to come.
Posted in Education, Olathe City Council, Rest In Pieces Series, Senator Vratil, Taxation, TEA Party Movement, tagged Johnson County, kansas, Olathe, Taxes on December 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Several area School Districts recently raised mill levies for increased funding. We chose to look at Olathe USD 233 as the School District is some what contained as the City of Olathe and we then measured changes from years 2000 to 2008. Here is what we found.
Estimated Census population increased from 93,880 to 120,094 or 28.8%
Full Time Enrollment increased from 20,828 to 26,894 or 29.1%
Hispanic Population increased from 5,060 to 9,931 or 96.24%
‘Bilingual Education Funding’ increased from $531,770 to $2,696,500 or 407%
(NOTE: Census numbers are only as accurate as those that reported.)
That brought us to el ELL (The English Language Learners). “In fact, one Kansas City school district has reported a 500 percent increase in its English learner population over the past three years. Area schools that have not historically served large numbers of English language learners are therefore facing the challenge of providing instruction for a more linguistically and culturally diverse student group.” http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3112
Kansas State Policy on the Education of ELL Students
In response to both federal mandate and local demand, the Kansas State Legislature passed the Kansas Bilingual Education Act (KSA–72-9501 to 72-9510) in 1992. In the Act, the Legislature provided an addendum to the State education funding formula, which created the Bilingual Education Fund (now called ESOL/Bilingual). Under the new funding formula, an additional 20% of the State’s annual per-pupil allocation would be provided to local school districts for each full-time-equivalent (FTE) student who was enrolled in a program of ESOL or Bilingual Education (KSDE, 1998). The Act also charged KSDE with the responsibility of creating regulations for the administration of the act, including the development of policies and guidelines for the dispersion of these funds, which were to cover teacher education, training, and instructional improvement, as KSDE deemed best. http://www.emporia.edu/emlj/modlan/esl/lawandpolicies.doc
In 2002-2003, over 100 districts (more than one third of the 304 districts in Kansas), reported enrolling at least one ELL student. Furthermore, the increase in the number of native languages each subsequent year has also proven to be a trend. By the 2002-2003 school year there were over 100 native languages spoken by the ELL students in the state (KSDE, 2002). http://www.emporia.edu/emlj/modlan/esl/lawandpolicies.doc
NOlathe Observation: To educate those here illegally we build more schools, hire more staff, hire more educators, educate the educators to be bilingual, fund more KPERS, provide two free meals daily and educate them in their native language from age 3 to 21. We have read estimates that as many as 30% state wide students are Spanish speakers.
NOlathe Observation: For the 2007-2008 school year, Olathe USD 233 reported 26,894 FTE (Full Time Equiv). The Kansas Dept of Education funded between 24,070 and 24,751 (two documents showed two numbers) or 2,143 less than USD 233 reported. At $12,192 per pupil results in a difference of $26,127,456. Other years show similar differences. We tried it in Spanish and got the same results. Or is there another set of books and who audits?
Sources: http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/School%20Finance/data_warehouse/total_expenditures/d0233exp.pdf
http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1813 http://www.olathe.k12.ks.us/
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Posted in Home Rule Charter, JoCo Board of Commissioners, Kansas, Overland Park, Rest In Pieces Series, TEA Party Movement, tagged DA Steve Howe, JoCo BOCC, Johnson County, kansas, Overland Park on December 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »
What the folks approved and the intent of the Johnson County ‘Home Rule Charter’ states ”to create a County Government to serve our present and future needs, and to permit the people of this County to make changes in our own government”
This post will examine just how little authority “the people of this County” actually have to “create a County government to serve our present and future needs”
We start here http://bocc.jocogov.org/commissioners.htm The current distribution of Commissioner Districts show that Districts 1, 3, 4 and 5 all receive votes from portions of Overland Park. Adding the ‘at-large’ Chair makes a total of five out of the seven receiving campaign contributions, influence and votes from one City within the County.
So just how big is Overland Park? Looking at the best population estimates available from the years 2000 through 2008 you might be surprised to learn that while the County population has steadily increased, the population of Overland Park has not increased at the same rate. Actually as a proportion, Overland Park is smaller now than it was in 2000. While the County grew 17.49% (79,488) Overland Park grew (13.66%) 20,573.
Population Source: 
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
The latest U.S. Census Bureau information shows that at no time since implementation of Johnson County’s Home Rule Charter should the City of Overland Park had control of more than three Commissioners. So how can a City with 33% of the electorate have potential control of 62.5% of the County Commission? The answer is simple….. it was designed that way and always has been. Political power in Overland Park controls nearly everything in Johnson County.
NOlathe began looking at this issue nearly a year ago. In February a KORA request allowed us to acquire many documents both electronically and hard paper copies. The shear volumn of information is too much for us to include here but we will make the documents available to anyone that has an interest. The committee assignments of those chosen to write and implement the Home Rule Charter is quite revealing. For this posting, it is sufficient to state that the Overland Park political power brokers (Dick Bond, et al) were masterful in achieving the County Districts of their design.
The last re-districting that occurred prior to the Home Rule Charter was in 1997. Without a Chair elected at-large and with only five Districts, the County looked like this:
At the time the Home Rule Charter was first imagined, then discussed, designed and implemented the City of Overland Park had at least three of the five and possibly even four of the five Districts representing that one City. So with the addition of two Commissioners in 2002, and with the influence the City had on the Charter Commissioners, why would a reasonable person expect the ratios to be any different?
Since the implementation of the Johnson County Home Rule Charter, NOlathe has found that the potential of re-districting has been discussed and denied at least twice by the County Commissioners. That brings you the reader current to 2011. As an electorate we can: 1) Repeal Home Rule Charter; 2) Demand a District profile that fairly and equally represents all residents; 3) Move all County buildings to Overland Park where they think they belong.
Taking back our GREAT Nation has to start in our own backyards. There is life after Overland Park. Proudly posted as part of NOlathe’s R.I.P (Rest in Pieces) Series for 2011.
