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Brownback’s $150K hire quits after degree questioned By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback’s chief information technology officer resigned Tuesday after a controversy erupted over the degree he listed on his resume.
Jim Mann, 58, who had started his $150,000 job last week, said he had a business administration degree from the University of Devonshire, which has been cited in several reports as a diploma mill and not an actual school. On Monday, Brownback held
Equity issues cited in school plan
a news conference to introduce Mann, of St. Augustine, Fla., and to announce his hiring. Brownback said Mann was a crucial hire to improve the IT capabilities of the state. But when news stories about Mann were filed online, reader commenters almost immediate-
ly started questioning the validity of his degree. On Tuesday morning, Brownback defended Mann to reporters based on Mann’s private sector work but conceded that his administration had not looked into Mann’s educational background.
“The education was not a factor in hiring,” Brownback had said. He added that he didn’t believe Mann tried to mislead his administration when interviewing for the job. Please see RESIGNATION, page 2A Mann
City: Rec center should cost $15M
‘Duct tape is always good to have’
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Commissioners agree to hash out details of plan
By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — Gov. Sam Brownback’s school finance plan will place more of the job of funding education on local taxpayers and widen the disparity between rich and poor school districts, several State Board of Education members said Tuesday. “I think you’re going to have a really big equity problem,” said Board member Sally Cauble, a Republican from Liberal. Her comment was made during Brownback a discussion with Brownback’s policy director Landon Fulmer, who spoke with the Education Board for nearly an hour and a half. Cauble was referring to a portion of Brownback’s plan that would allow local districts to raise as much for schools from local property taxes as voters in that district would allow. Currently there is a cap on the amount of local property taxes for schools. Brownback’s plan would also allow local districts to approve sales taxes for schools. Board member Jana Shaver, R-Independence, whose district covers some of the poorest regions of the state, said relying on increased local taxes “for our area is an unequalizing concept.” And several board members questioned Brownback’s proposal to set a floor of state funding support for schools, which equals about half the state budget, when Brownback’s supporters are pushing for elimination of the state income tax. Fulmer said he didn’t want to get into Brownback’s asyet-to-be released tax plan but hinted that it would not have a drastic impact on state revenues. “The goal would not be to have a plan in place that just slashes future spending,” Fulmer said. Brownback has said the Please see SCHOOLS, page 7A
By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photos
TEAM MEMBERS ANTONIO SCHONEICH, RIGHT, Richard Lu, center, and Ruben Ghijsen, left, launch their spring device in the vertical leap competition at the 2011 High School Design Competition Tuesday at Kansas University’s Eaton Hall. Area teams were to design and build small, self-propelled devices that can leap vertically, horizontally and at an angle.
Failure spawns success for budding engineers Herd
By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
ONLINE: See the video at LJWorld.com
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You’d think lining up more than 250 students on 41 teams from 19 different high schools for a competition on a college campus would be all about winning. Try again. Considering the varied devices flying, scooting and bouncing around the lobby inside Kansas University’s Eaton Hall on Tuesday, students found themselves focusing more on surviving, stretching and adapting to the rules assigned as part of “Rock, Hop, Jayhawk,” this year’s theme for the School of Engineering’s High School Design Competition. Budding engineers simply needed to make a self-propelled device that could move in three different directions: horizontal, vertical and at an angle. The farther a device went, the better the score. But three guys on a team from the Engineering Club at Free State High School considered themselves winners for simply
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ISAAC RINKE, A SENIOR at Lawrence High School, prepares to launch his device in the vertical challenge Tuesday at KU. A five-member team from Lawrence High also had its focus on adjustments, with theirs coming through timely adaptation. The students from Lions 4 had spent their design work studying other teams’ devices before settling on an ultralight approach: Take a thin, carbon-fiber rod 12.75 inches long, add fins cut
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making it through the contest unscathed. Their device — two planks of clear pine connected by a door hinge, with surgical tubes providing elasticity for power — managed to jump up only two of eight steps, creep only six feet across the floor and climb all of four feet up a wall. Their lone success would come through improvisation, relying on time-tested redundancy after their tubing had detached from nails on the board during their first competitive shot. “Duct tape is always good to have,” said Ruben Ghijsen, a senior who hopes to study mechanical or civil engineering at KU. “We brought it just in case,” said Richard Lu, a junior who plans to pursue mechanical or aerospace engineering. “That’s the fail-safe.” Antonio Schoneich, a junior mulling aerospace engineering, noted that the tape also addressed liability concerns. They used it to cover up some sharp nailheads that had pierced through the boards. “It’s so we don’t get hurt,” he said.
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Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday tentatively answered one question about the idea of a new west Lawrence recreation center: About $15 million is how much the community should invest. But at least two other questions emerged: Where should the new center be built, and can Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self’s foundation help the CITY city raise up COMMISSION to $3 million in private money for the facility? “It is time for the next generation of recreation facilities,” said Mayor Aron Cromwell. “I feel like we have done a pretty good job of running the town, and that affords us the ability to do projects like this when they come along.” But the project is far from a done deal. Commissioners only gave staff members the authority to do preliminary work on the project. That will include making a recommendation on the best spot for the project. Parks and Recreation leaders have been promoting a city-owned site just north of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. But on Tuesday evening, the city was told a landowner was willing to donate a larger 50-acre site at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway. The site — the owner of the property wasn’t specifically identified in a letter to commissioners, but local businessmen Duane and Steve Schwada previously have been connected with the property — could provide the city more opportunity to grow the center in the future and might serve as a catalyst for retail and other development at the Sixth and SLT intersection. Please see REC CENTER, page 5A
COMING THURSDAY We’ll fill you in on a new weapon in the city’s snow-removal arsenal.
Vol.153/No.313 30 pages
Energy smart: The Journal-World makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org