By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
June 8, 2011

Kansas City Missouri School District Board of Education members approved next year’s school budget and received several recommendations on the process during their May 18 meeting.

For fiscal year 2012, KCMSD’s projected budget is $223.42 million with a reserve of $232,197. As part of the district’s Phase II Transformation Plan, the budget includes funding for several learning initiatives.

For early learning education, such as Parents-As-Teachers, Early Childhood and Head Start, $8.15 million will be allotted. The technology plan will receive $2.75 million and focuses on expanding distance learning labs, updating the planetarium at Southwest Early College Campus, among other technology initiatives. Other budget items include elementary school initiatives, $1.5 million and high school initiatives, $3 million.

During his presentation of the Ad Hoc Budget Committee Report, Co-Chair Dwon Littlejohn suggested the board include the committee earlier in the budgeting process.

“We had a very short time limit to get this done,” Littlejohn said. “We really believe this process should be open. In the interest of transparency, we ask that you start this process early enough where parents and chair-holders can get engaged.”

The budget committee’s task was to determine whether or not the proposed budget met the global ends policy of goals for KCMSD students (Board Policy Series 1.0) and avoided violating the board’s limitations (Board Policy Series 4.0).

One challenge, the report stated, was the committee’s main budget document was an accounting document that didn’t provide enough details to evaluate “anything beyond the solvency of the district.”

Committee members also said a financial document cannot be used to determine whether or not students are fully equipped, globally competitive citizens fulfilling Policies 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 .

The report also stated that the board’s policies were too vague and unclear.

However, Littlejohn said the committee decided the proposed budget is supportive of the district’s goals, but actual determination of success will take place over time and needs to be monitored throughout the school year and in future years.

Lincoln Prep debate recognized

Debate Kansas City Director Gabe Cook applauded the Lincoln College Preparatory Academy debate team for its stellar performance this season. During Debate Kansas City’s 12th Annual Awards Night Celebration at the Kauffman Conference Center, Lincoln Prep went home with 60 percent of the awards, he said.

“Scholars in your district have achieved at the highest levels in rigorous academic competition,” Cook said.

Frankie George, who’s debated at Lincoln Prep for three years said, “It (debate) has helped me to advance in many ways. Debate is my life. It’s what I do. If I could get paid to debate for the rest of my life, I would.”

Cook said debate leagues value critical thinking and that students who are involved in debate score 25 percent higher in reading, 44 percent higher in critical thinking skills and are 50 percent more likely to reach the benchmarks on the ACT compared to students who aren’t involved in debate.

Delano requests more time

Although it hasn’t been formally presented to the board, Superintendent Dr. John Covington is proposing shutting down Delano since the school is out of compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Twice in April, Covington and his executive staff met with Delano representatives to inform them of the proposal to close the special needs school.

During a previous meeting, KCMSD Chief of Staff Dr. Chace Ramey told Northeast News that IDEA deals with serving special needs students in the “least restrictive environment.” IDEA requires schools to educate children with disabilities alongside non-disabled children as much as possible.

At Delano, students are completely segregated from the non-special needs student population, which means they’re not being educated in the least restrictive environment, Ramey said.

Delano currently serves 71 students in third through 12th grades and is the only one of its kind in the district. If KCMSD closes the school, the elementary students will transfer to Wheatley Elementary School and high school students will transfer to the annex at East High School.

Delano School Advisory Committee Chair Deborah Jones said if KCMSD closes the school this year she worries there won’t be enough time to adequately transition Delano students to other schools and allow those schools to prepare for the new students.

“It cannot be done in a 60-day turnaround…” Jones told Northeast News. “My daughter had a seizure at prom. Had it not been for the staff at Delano knowing how to handle those types of situations, it could have been a different outcome for Courtney.”

During the meeting, Jones asked the board to consider keeping Delano open another year to effectively prepare for the transition process. In addition, she requested KCMSD provide special needs training to the mainstream teachers and keep Delano parents informed on what to expect.

“Dr. Covington and his team inspired by both previous requests and this request will not fail to provide a proposal that addresses these,” KCMSD Board President Airick West said. “At that time, the board will take up the proposal with a scrutinizing eye to evaluate to what extent it addresses your other concerns the parents of Delano brought forth.”