Author: Dave Trabert
Claiming Level 2 is on track for college/career is dumbing down standards
Some education officials in Kansas are trying to make parents believe that scores in Level 2 on the state assessment…
A+ Team gets an F for honesty
The A+ Team, a slate of four candidates for the Blue Valley school board, posted a social media ad claiming that…
Race-based, income-based achievement gaps widen in Johnson County
Achievement gaps in math and English Language Arts are worse for minorities and low-income students in the three largest school…
More false claims from SUBV on spending and achievement
The activists of Stand Up Blue Valley (SUBV) are working hard to protect the bureaucracy at students’ expense by pushing…
Newspapers deny reality on CRT, achievement to push status quo in school board races
Videos, teacher training materials, and even school teacher testimony shows the tenets of critical race theory (CRT) are embedded in…
Miserable outcomes indicate KSDE should abandon “Kansans Can” and get back to academics
The Kansas Department of Education introduced its current gimmick – “Kansans Can” – in 2016 with great fanfare. Instead of…
KSDE Star Awards recognize process, cover up declining outcomes
The Kansas Department of Education’s Star Awards program is another means of covering up low achievement and helping school districts…
Recommendations to improve achievement by changing adult behaviors
Testimony submitted this week to the Special Committee on Education crystalized three unfortunate realities: (1) student achievement is low and…
KASB hits new low, trying to explain away achievement declines
A new flyer from the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) would be right at home as satire at The…
Government officials should be honest about job growth
Americans are accustomed to politicians embellishing their records, but some of the false claims about job growth are downright shameful.…
State school board member misrepresents SEL position
At the August board meeting, state school board member Ann Mah misrepresented a social-emotional learning (SEL) statement she attributed to…
Wichita superintendent Kelly Bielefeld covers up poor student achievement
USD 259 superintendent Kelly Bielefeld spoke to the Wichita Pachyderm Club recently, and like his predecessors, he went out of…
Mesha Mainor refuses to use the poor and minorities for political gain
Hypocrisy – claiming to have beliefs to which one’s behavior does not conform – has long been a defining characteristic…
Stand Up Blue Valley misleads followers about misleading voters
Sometimes, understanding what someone avoids saying is more telling than how they respond to an issue, which is certainly the…
2023 Freedom Index shows liberty is not a red or blue issue
Seventy-three of the 165 Kansas House and Senate members scored better than 85% on the 2023 Kansas Freedom Index, including Wyandotte County…
2023 state assessment results reflect Einstein’s definition of insanity
The preliminary 2023 state assessment results once again demonstrate that student achievement will remain stubbornly low until the Legislature steps…
Stand Up Blue Valley misleads voters on school board elections
Stand Up Blue Valley, a lobbying group that primarily works to elect legislators who will vote to raise taxes and…
Missouri needs the revenue-neutral Truth in Taxation Act
The Jackson County (Missouri) Assessor’s office is taking a lot of heat for property tax increases over the last several…
SMSD used $4 million extra at-risk state aid to boost SPED cash reserves
The Kansas Legislature provides over $500 million of at-risk funding to deliver services to students at risk of academic failure.[i] …
KSDE deceives school districts on efficiency and achievement
Imagine 100 students take a test where Johnnie gets a C and only four students had higher grades. That puts…
Education officials top the 2022 KPERS ‘millionaires’ list
Data provided by the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System shows Kansas has 3,778 KPERS ‘millionaires’ – state and local government…
Districts continue to ignore the school needs assessment law
For the third consecutive year, a review of 25 school districts’ adherence to the school needs assessment law underscores why…
Former Lansing school board member misleads community on revenue neutral
Former USD 469 Lansing school board member Beth Stevenson is telling the community that holding revenue neutral on local property…
Prairie Village, other JoCo residents reject expensive taxpayer-funded community center
Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson and most City Council members are promoting a new taxpayer-funded community center that would replace…