Kansas City Star

You think you know how your neighborhood school is faring — but do you really? What about the performance of your fourth-grader's class? The answers are in The Kansas City Star's fifth annual report on our schools, "Making the Grade."

Whatever the cause, it seems the bedtime story — and the ritual of parents reading to their children regardless of the hour — may be losing its hold on American family life.

The people hoping to claim seven Kansas City district schools for the Independence district talk about improving the schools and giving economically strapped communities a chance to revive.

Eight years ago, in a tiny southeast Kansas town, four girls had a goal: Tell the story of a woman who saved 2,500 children during the Holocaust.

LAWRENCE | As an incoming freshman, Brittney Cisler of Leawood can project almost to the dollar what she and her parents will pay the University of Kansas for a four-year education.

Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison on Tuesday cleared Overland Park’s Planned Parenthood of criminal wrongdoing, but predecessor Phill Kline’s scrutiny of the clinic may not be over.

By E. Thomas McClanahan
Eleven years ago, California voters approved a ballot issue banning racial preference by state government. Now a campaign for a similar measure has begun in Missouri, Colorado, Arizona and Oklahoma. What’s interesting about this new effort, announced last week, is the ho-hum reaction it generated. The story drew only dutiful coverage and any buzz was brief — a far cry from the sparks that flew during the original campaign in California.

Trey Barnes wears baggy pants and struggles to get noticed at his Eastside middle school. By this time next year, he hopes to wear neckties and rub elbows with corporate types who know his name.

The Kansas Board of Education will meet Wednesday in a hastily called meeting that includes a closed session to discuss personnel. The announcement has generated speculation that Education Commissioner Bob Corkins may announce his resignation.

First the good news: 86 percent of Kansas schools made the grade this year, according to a preliminary list released by the state’s Department of Education today.

 Incoming State Auditor Susan Montee said Tuesday that one of her first acts next year will be an audit of the state's student loan authority. Montee says quasi-governmental groups such as the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority don't have enough oversight and legislators need to know what they're dealing with.

The state has issued $32,000 in federal grants to individuals and groups in recent weeks to help start charter schools, prompting some concern from a member of the Kansas State Board of Education.

Gov. Matt Blunt's appointees prevailed in a divided vote Wednesday as Missouri's student loan authority endorsed his plan to siphon $350 million from the agency to finance college construction projects.