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Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 8:52 am
by flyingember
Highlander wrote: I suspect the parents had a lot to do with those numbers. There's obviously roadblocks to learning in any poorer school district but even if teachers were incompetent, it's not like the students don't have text books and a functioning brain. A little effort goes a long way.
statistically educational output is roughly half innate skill and half effort. most kids who are not a natural math genius can learn the material to a satisfactory level with enough effort, for example. clearly there's always exceptions but if you walked into a classroom in the district most of the failing kids are ones that could be successful.

there's claims that success in school dates all the way back to what we learn at age 2-3. that language and the ability to sit still are two foundation skills for success in school.

so parental effort plays a large part in educational outcomes, but way sooner than when they're in school. the kid who gets time everyday with a mother or father that displays an ability to sit down and do a task for long periods is showing the kid how to act. the parent that at the same time is talking with their kid about anything is teaching their kid language, the foundation for all learning

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:20 am
by flyingember
Here's a good example of what you get when a district isn't forced to integrate or taken under federal control and create a housing environment with lots of price points and lots of different density levels.

Diversity by choice in a quality school district parents want to send their kids to.

https://twitter.com/MayorSlyJames/statu ... 6367525888

21 kids
10 white

The entire southern northland is reasonably close to this model. NKC HS is 50% white, 50% minority

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:07 am
by kboish
KCStar has a nice article today on resurgence of families in the urban core and how that dynamic is playing out within the schools systems.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 77537.html

I was curious what their revenues look like and looked into their available online CAFRs to get some info. Its very interesting and a little confusing because there are so many tax sources that rise and fall against each other.

A comparison of the available property tax levy (not the amount collected since that would actually skew the results depending on the year you picked because the collection rate varies alot) from 1996-2014 is $107,661,850 to $135,405,792.

Thats a 1.5% annualized increase in property tax revenues. Overall, though, the districts budget is way down since 2000 (the dates they use are different depending on the revenue source). But that is due to the formulas used for State aid that is based on enrollment- which went from $53 million in 2000 to $12 million in 2015. Sales tax and federal money is down also.

You can see the relative use of dollars by looking at the per pupil spending.
From 1997 to 2015 the school districts enrollment went from 36,413 to 14,312. Their per pupil spending went from $8,852 to $13,305 (I also have no idea how that is calculated and what types of expenditures are included. It peaked a couple of years ago at $17,000)

One of the most interesting bits is the change in population in the district and percentage of population enrolled from 1997 to 2015. Those are respectively 282,066 (13% enrollment rate) to 193,837 (7% enrollment rate). And those numbers I think are based off of the 1990 and 2010 census.

If you wanted to keep going to see how they're spending money, you would want to look at all of their capital costs/maintenance expenditures/building sales/bonds for rehab, etc...but its all very confusing.

http://www.kcpublicschools.org/Page/802

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 2:45 pm
by brewcrew1000
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 48252.html

I don't know how we got so lucky but my kid got into Crossroads, Academie Lafayette and the new Citizens of the World, I really don't know which one we are going to choose. AL seems like the obvious choice but I like that Crossroads is very diverse and it is project based learning rather than more traditional learning. Its also cool that Crossroads is downtown and they use Barney Allis Plaza for gym/recces and the downtown library as its school library.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 4:09 pm
by bobbyhawks
brewcrew1000 wrote:http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 48252.html

I don't know how we got so lucky but my kid got into Crossroads, Academie Lafayette and the new Citizens of the World, I really don't know which one we are going to choose. AL seems like the obvious choice but I like that Crossroads is very diverse and it is project based learning rather than more traditional learning. Its also cool that Crossroads is downtown and they use Barney Allis Plaza for gym/recces and the downtown library as its school library.
Dang. You literally won the lottery!

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 5:38 pm
by shinatoo
So what do you do if you want to move into the district but your kids are already school aged?

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 10:04 pm
by DaveKCMO
what does everyone think of the mayor's PAC to advance a slate for the april 5 election?

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 10:52 am
by mykn
DaveKCMO wrote:what does everyone think of the mayor's PAC to advance a slate for the april 5 election?
Not sure what this is, do you have a link to info?

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:12 am
by DaveKCMO

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 10:18 am
by beautyfromashes
Is it possible to use eminent domain for a school building? For example, could the city take Southwest from the KCMOPS and give it to a charter school instead of having it sit unused? This would be done for the betterment of the citizens.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 10:31 am
by aknowledgeableperson
You really want to see the s**t fly don't you? Of course the city would have to pay for it.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 12:55 pm
by herrfrank
beautyfromashes wrote:Is it possible to use eminent domain for a school building? For example, could the city take Southwest from the KCMOPS and give it to a charter school instead of having it sit unused? This would be done for the betterment of the citizens.
There is still a significant anti-Southwest High School element in Kansas City. You'd have better luck with Westport HS or its junior high confrere across 39th Street. Even though it's just a building, as Faulkner wrote, "the past is never dead. It's not even past."

It's sad, because this opposition is a barrier to neighborhood success. Southwest used to be _the_ best high school between Denver and St. Louis, quite possibly between Denver and Chicago. And it's arguable that it was even better than the old Denver East or New Trier HS. I believe that Calvin Trillin wrote a long-form requiem for Southwest High School in the New Yorker magazine in the 1980s.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 2:12 pm
by herrfrank
herrfrank wrote:
beautyfromashes wrote:Is it possible to use eminent domain for a school building? For example, could the city take Southwest from the KCMOPS and give it to a charter school instead of having it sit unused? This would be done for the betterment of the citizens.
There is still a significant anti-Southwest High School element in Kansas City. You'd have better luck with Westport HS or its junior high confrere across 39th Street. Even though it's just a building, as Faulkner wrote, "the past is never dead. It's not even past."

It's sad, because this opposition is a barrier to neighborhood success. Southwest used to be _the_ best high school between Denver and St. Louis, quite possibly between Denver and Chicago. And it's arguable that it was even better than the old Denver East or New Trier HS. I believe that Calvin Trillin wrote a long-form requiem for Southwest High School in the New Yorker magazine in the 1980s.
It was Ed Matheny rather than Calvin Trillin -- Matheny was part-owner of Blackwell, Sanders. http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Excelle ... 1585970220

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 4:32 pm
by beautyfromashes
aknowledgeableperson wrote:You really want to see the s**t fly don't you? Of course the city would have to pay for it.
Start taking back some of the communities resources by force and the school board might actually start doing their job.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 5:59 pm
by taxi
I think someone should make a reality TV show about the KCMO school board.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 12:48 am
by aknowledgeableperson
beautyfromashes wrote:
aknowledgeableperson wrote:You really want to see the s**t fly don't you? Of course the city would have to pay for it.
Start taking back some of the communities resources by force and the school board might actually start doing their job.
Generally speaking one government usually does not used eminent domain on another government body. Eminent domain is the taking of "private property" and property of the school district would not be considered "private property" since the SD is a government entity.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 1:27 am
by nomadcowatbk
could they turn the Southwest HS into offices or apartments if the district ever decides to sell the building?

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:30 pm
by bobbyhawks
If only there were an organization affiliated with the KCMO SD that wanted to open up a high school...

http://www.kshb.com/news/education/acad ... igh-school

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:35 am
by kucer
News coming about Southwest very soon.

Re: The KCMO School District

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 3:38 pm
by beautyfromashes
^^whatever it is, I'm sure it will fall apart or the district leadership will find a way to ruin it somehow.