Team to take aim at education

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Feb 1, 2003 by Chris Grenz Capital-Journal

Listen to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius discuss what she hopes her education policy team can accomplish.

www.

cjonline.com

By Chris Grenz

The Capital-Journal

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on Friday unveiled her much-anticipated education policy team but left unanswered questions about what exactly it will do and when it will finish its work.

The 28-member team will look to shape what the governor called "P- 16" education policy, which stretches from preschool to post- secondary education. The governor said the state may be on the verge of a "real crisis" in education funding.

"The goal is that Kansas becomes a leader of education in the country," Sebelius said at her weekly Statehouse news conference. "Having good schools is intimately tied to having a thriving economy."

Sebelius said the group's objectives and timeline will be finalized during its first meeting, which is scheduled for noon Wednesday at the Topeka Public Schools administrative building, 624 S.W. 24th St.

But in general, some goals will include improved student assessment and teacher quality, as well as "smoothing" the transition from one grade to the next.

The team, which included Topeka Unified School District 501 superintendent Dr. Robert McFrazier, will be led by Sylvia Robinson, whom Sebelius earlier appointed as her director of education policy. Robinson said the group will focus on three areas --- student performance, leadership development, and cost and efficiencies.

Sebelius made public education funding her top priority during her gubernatorial campaign last year. Despite the state's fiscal crisis, the budget she proposed held public education funding --- including higher education --- at current levels. Those two areas combined would account for 67 percent of all state spending.

Before she was inaugurated, Sebelius named 60 volunteers to her Budget Efficiency Savings Teams to address agriculture and natural resources, the economy, human services, infrastructure and public safety. Those teams were primarily charged with looking to trim waste from state operations.

"So far, these top-to-bottom review teams haven't produced beans," said Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson. "I hope this one produces more."

Sebelius promised the group would take a "comprehensive approach" to studying state education policy.

"There is no preset conclusion that I'm asking this team to reach," Sebelius said.

But several members of the new team have vocally advocated increasing school funding. One member, Kathy Cook, of Shawnee, formed a group during the campaign called Kansas Families United for Public Education, which called for more education spending. On Friday, Cook released a statement decrying recent budget cuts in the Shawnee Mission School District.

"While the Nero's in Topeka fiddle," she said, "our public schools burn."

Chris Grenz can be reached

at (785) 296-3005 or cgrenz@cjonline.com.

Education advisory team

- Sylvia Robinson, Kansas City, Kan., team leader

- The Rev. Jimmy Banks, Kansas City, Kan.

- Former state Rep. Rick Bowden, Topeka

- Former state Rep. Rochelle Chronister, Neodesha

- Dorothy Cohen, Wichita

- Kathy Cook, Shawnee

- Former Senate Majority Leader Tim Emert, Independence

- Eddie Estes, Dodge City

- The Rev. Kevin Graham, Wichita

- Craig Grant, Lawrence

- Robert Haderlein, Girard

- Tom Hammond, Wichita

- Tom Hawk, Manhattan

- Don Kincaid, Mission Hills

- Former Sen. Audrey Langworthy, Prairie Village

- Robert McFrazier, Topeka

- Carol Nazar, Wichita

- Bill Nelson, Kansas City, Kan.

- Bryce Neville, Liberal

- Marsha Nicely, Bonner Springs

- Ligia Paquette, Junction City

- Korey Powell-Hensley, Salina

- Deborah June Purce, Topeka

- Morris Reaves, Dodge City

- Former Rep. Dick Reinhardt, Erie

- Richard Ruiz, Kansas City, Kan.

- Derrell Schooler, Valley Center

- Pam Wiens, Kansas City, Kan.