Kansas City District Prepares for Cuts in Summer-School Classes (MO)

April 29, 2010

The Kansas City School District is poised to join many other Missouri districts that are slashing summer school programming in anticipation of state cuts.

The administration held off seeking board approval Wednesday night, but not because it is questioning whether it needs to abandon enrichment programs this summer.

It hesitated because the cuts might be deeper than those on the table.

The district, which previously enrolled some 10,000 students each summer, is preparing to limit enrollment to 3,000 or fewer in remedial or credit-recovery classes.

Enrichment program partnerships probably will be dropped for at least this summer, district Chief of Staff Jeff McDaniels said.

One of those programs, the Wildwood Outdoor Education Center in LaCygne, Kan., will be scrambling to fill seats that had been dedicated to Kansas City students.

“It’s gut-wrenching on many levels,” said Wildwood co-executive director Robin Cooper-Cornejo.

The camp probably will need to reduce staff hours among the 19 counselors, she said. And she also worries about the lost opportunities for children who would have participated in their program and others.

“I understand their funding situation, and I certainly wish the district the best,” she said. “But it leaves us in a lurch.”

& #x0A;

Several Kansas City residents with Communities Creating Opportunity organizations were in Jefferson City on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to preserve summer school funding.

Vibrant summer school programs should remain an essential part of the state’s education mission, CCO member Mary Ellen Boozer said.

“If you don’t have summer school, it sends the wrong message of hope,” she said.

Districts would not be prohibited from providing full summer school if the pending legislation passed, said Rep. Maynard Wallace, a co-sponsor of one of the bills. But they would need to find funding for enrichment programs without extra state aid.

In the Senate, SB 943 would allow state funding only for credit-bearing and remedial courses that students need to advance to the next grade.

On the House side, HB 2245 would restrict it further, allowing state funding for no more than 15 percent of each district’s enrollment.