Maria BeneventoEducation reporter

Local voters can influence education policy through their votes for school board members and on education bonds.

There’s no set formula for figuring out college value. So The Kansas City Beacon combed through a few college value rankings and talked with local universities to give you a starting point. 

The bill’s passage is a relief for local school districts, which had urged the legislature to appropriate most of the money before a March 24 deadline. 

Both chambers in the Kansas legislature are proposing “parents’ bills of rights” and other bills that would add scrutiny to curriculum.  

Some researchers think growth should be even more heavily weighted when it comes to determining which schools are best at serving their students, and DESE’s next evaluation framework will place an even stronger emphasis on growth. 

School districts are eager to receive federal funding because it affects their planning, such as for summer programming, and is directed toward COVID-19-related needs such as making up for pandemic learning loss and improving air quality. 

Kansas City Public Schools leadership is hoping lawmakers will release federal relief funding, but the district is working to make sure the state knows how important the spending could be for students.

DESE has changed requirements to make it easier for people to serve as substitute teachers and has promoted the changes on social media and through interviews with news outlets. 

A look at colleges and universities across the region shows a range of coronavirus response plans, and each has its own way of handling vaccination, masking, social distancing and COVID tests.