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TUESDAY • JANUARY 25 • 2011
School cuts could mean $70M federal penalty By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
ONLINE: Official says move could have dire consequences. See video at LJWorld.com
TOPEKA — Not only would Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget cut school funding, but it could also result in a federal
Brownback
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High: 34
penalty of $70 million in special education, officials said Monday. The disclosure came as legislators started analyzing the details of Brownback’s proposed budget cuts for the current fiscal year that are contained in House Bill 2014 before the House Appropriations Com-
mittee. The committee is expected to work on the bill today. Brownback’s budget recommendation would cut school funding in the current school year by $132 million, which would decrease base state aid per student from $4,012 to $3,937, or $75 per pupil.
It would also fall short in special education funding by $16.7 million of what the state needs to satisfy federal requirements. Such a shortfall could mean a loss of $70 million in federal funds, officials said. “By not spending $16.7 million this year, we could be in the hole $70 million over the next two
District faces up to own report card
Low: 15
Today’s forecast, page 10A
INSIDE Colorado aims high under coach Boyle Former Jayhawk Tad Boyle is taking the Colorado Buffaloes to new heights. The much improved team — 14-6 so far this year — will host the Kansas Jayhawks at 7 p.m. today. Page 1B
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Shelter numbers way up with cold clawhorn@ljworld.com
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
Ethics commission to hear Perkins case The state ethics commission today will consider a complaint against former Kansas University Athletic Director Lew Perkins that alleges he violated a ban on gifts to state officials. Page 3A
QUOTABLE
No one in KNI is going to be put out on the streets.” — Gov. Sam Brownback, defending his proposal to shut down the Kansas Neurological Institute. However, lawmakers in both parties have expressed opposition to the plan to relocate some of the state’s most fragile residents. Page 7A
COMING WEDNESDAY The Crimson and Blue BBQ Crew is heading to Florida for a contest, and we talk with them about the competitive spirit.
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INDEX Business Classified Comics Deaths Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion Poll Puzzles Sports Television Vol.153/No.25
Please see SCHOOL, page 2A
By Chad Lawhorn
KANSAS UNIVERSITY
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years,” said Mike Mathes, president-elect of the Kansas School Superintendents Association and superintendent of the Seaman school district in Shawnee County. Mathes said that reduction in federal funds would mean that
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Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org
CORDLEY SCHOOL THIRD-GRADE TEACHER Sam Court reviews a math exercise with student Saul Ortiz on Monday.
Schools can use both strengths, challenges to improve education By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
Leaders of the Lawrence school district embrace the strengths and welcome the challenges documented in an intensive study of district operations — regarding achievements of students, performances of teachers and even visibility of the superintendent. The study, a “needs assessment” compiled by the Kansas Learning Network, is the result of a three-day visit in November by consultants, state officials and teachers and administrative colleagues from other districts. The goal: Help Lawrence public schools identify both its positives and weaknesses, all to help the edu-
offers members of the Lawrence school board a familiar road map for from each of the four schools’ addressing problems. principals, and then appointed “There weren’t a whole naming committees. lot of big surprises,” said The committees’ only Rich Minder, board presicharge: Recommend names dent. that include “middle school” The study recommends instead of “junior high.” that the district: ● “Strongly consider Approving formation of the closing schools,” after the committees were the same upcoming shift of sixthfour board members who graders into middle agreed to pursue new names schools leaves some eleearlier this month: Mary Lovementary schools with low land, Marlene Merrill, Rich enrollment. The savings Minder and Vanessa Sanburn. should be used to “bolster Opposed were Mark Bradford, the instructional program,” Bob Byers and Scott Morgan. particularly restoration of teacher learning coaches dents of color and students cut last year and unspeciwith disabilities — for two fied “central office support.” Such ideas, to some years in a row. The 25-page report, plus Please see DISTRICT, page 2A a data-f illed appendix,
Naming committees appointed for schools Four committees have until spring break to come up with recommendations for naming the Lawrence school district’s existing junior high schools, which are set to become middle schools beginning July 1. Committees either can come up with new names or rely on the existing ones: Central, South, Southwest and West. Monday night, on a 4-3 vote, the Lawrence school board accepted nominations cational operation move off a list of districts that failed to meet federal standards in certain categories — in this case test scores for stu-
Calendar puts pressure on KU cancer center By Christine Metz cmetz@ljworld.com
On the KU Cancer Center’s website, a clock ticks toward the deadline for when the cancer center has to submit its application to become a National Cancer Institute designated facility. As of Monday, there were 243 days left. But even after this year’s September deadline, more work is in store for the cancer center. “We are working very rapidly. We have to continue working at the same pace,” KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said. “We won’t get to the point where we can stop and rest on what we have done for the next couple of months.” Gray-Little’s comments were made Monday at the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s board of directors meeting in Topeka. In the past year, the KBA
has committed $10 million over the next five years to bring in world-class scientists to the KU Cancer Center. Two more leadership positions at the KU Cancer Center need to be filled before September. Along with the two leadership positions, the KU Cancer Center is looking to fill a slate of 14 other toptier scientists. But before more scholars are recruited, the cancer center needs to increase its research space, officials told the KBA board Monday. “Not only do we need to have the space for people, but to attract the kind of scholars that will help bring NCI designation, we need to have first-rate space,” said Brad Kemp, who through the KBA is working to recruit researchers to the cancer center. So far, the KBA has contributed $26.5 million to ren-
ovate research space at the Wahl/Hixon Research Center on the medical center campus in Kansas City, Kan. A sales tax that Johnson County voters approved a few years ago is going toward establishing another facility, the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Center in Fairway. Among the buildings that KU had hoped to have to help attract new scholars is a $64 million, 108,000 square-foot research building at KU’s west campus in Lawrence. That building, which would have pulled together researchers working on drug discovery, is on hold because KU hasn’t been able to find the private and philanthropic funding sources needed to build it, Kemp said. Consultants working with KU on NCI designation also stressed the need for more research space. “Facilities remain the
issue,” said Debra Lappin, a consultant with B&D Consulting. “We can’t have Wahl /Hixon 50 percent completed and 100 percent dedicated. Recruits require a place to work.” Part of Monday’s discussion looked at where the cancer center would head after its NCI application was submitted. Gray-Little urged the cancer center to explore partnerships with the KU School of Engineering and its biomedical engineering program. She also encouraged the cancer center to move forward with work in personalized medicine, which gears treatment methods toward a patient’s individual characteristics. — Reporter Christine Metz can be reached at 832-6352.
Falling temperatures have created rising numbers for the Lawrence Community Shelter, so much so that on many nights the homeless shelter is operating out of three downtown locations. Shelter director Loring Henderson said that on many nights the shelter has housed more than 100 people in order for homeless people to remain out of the bitter cold. “We’ve been consistently around 90 people and some- Henderson times up to 110 people,” Henderson said. “Because of the extreme cold weather being so steady, it has been pretty tough for quite a few folks.” The shelter’s building at 10th and Kentucky streets can house 76 people during the winter months. But the shelter is taking advantage of a zoning change approved for the Family Promise program that allows churches to temporarily house 15 people overnight. That allows the shelter to partner with area churches to serve as overflow homeless shelters. Henderson occasionally used that system of temporary overflow shelters last winter, but he said he’s been forced to use it much more frequently this year. The shelter has operated three locations — the shelter’s main building plus two downtown churches — 20 nights during the last six weeks. Henderson said the shelter last winter only had such demand on two or three occasions. In addition to the cold weather, an increase in the number of families has added to crowding. Henderson on Monday said the shelter was serving five families with a total of about 10 children and nine adults. He said the poor economy is leading to more families at the shelter, but he also said the number of victims of domestic abuse also seems to be on the rise. “I believe that when the economy is bad, domestic abuse may increase,” Henderson said. “People’s tempers get on edge.” The shelter has agreements with four downtown churches — Plymouth Congregational Church, First United Methodist Church, Trinity Lutheran Church and The Salvation Army — to use their facilities when nighttime temperatures are 32 degrees or below. The city also allows a temporary increase in occupancy of the shelter’s main building from 53 to 76 people during the winter months. That expanded occupancy is set to end on March 31. But Henderson said he is asking for the higher occupancy to be allowed all year. He said even when the weather is not cold, the demand for
● University roles for bio-
science touted. Page 2A
Please see SHELTER, page 2A