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The Missouri Attorney General and State Tax Commission are suing Jackson County to toss out more than 190,000 property assessments — and force schools to pay back millions of dollars that they’ve already spent.
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Kris Kobach has filed a federal lawsuit against the Education Department's revised Title IX rules, which ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTQ+ students who face discrimination will be entitled to a response from their school and can seek action from the federal government.
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Over 30% of Missouri school districts, mostly in rural parts of the state, have shortened their school weeks to four days as a responsive to chronic teacher shortages. As larger districts like Independence adopt the practice, state lawmakers are considering bills to reign it in.
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A group created by Kansas lawmakers to study special education has endorsed a plan to boost funding by nearly $350 million over four years. The move would bring Kansas into compliance with state law, which requires the state to fund 92% of the extra costs of special-ed.
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Vera Daniels and Celeste Hoins, substitute teachers in the Lansing school district near Kansas City, are suing the district. They say they were fired for speaking out against school district policies.
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Kansas public school leaders in some high-demand districts say they’re already hearing from families who want to switch schools to take advantage of a new open enrollment law. But the new law won’t be simple, and they’re not ready to just throw open their doors.
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The efforts to remove books from school libraries started with parents in local districts and eventually led to state legislatures. After two years of controversy, one Missouri school librarian says her colleagues are leaving the profession because it has become too painful.
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The holiday break can be difficult for families who rely on schools to provide meals, shelter and other resources to their kids. Schools around the Kansas City area started planning early so kids would be taken care of.
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By some estimates, Kansas is short more than 84,000 childcare slots in order to meet current demand. And even when they find an opening, families can pay more than their mortgage to keep their kid enrolled. State legislators say fixing the issue is a priority.
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Students for Justice in Palestine, a newly-recognized student group, has led efforts at UMKC to call for a Gaza ceasefire. Leaders say they're making inroads with their fellow students, but argue the university is not doing enough to protect them from Islamophobia and potential retaliation.
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Kansas choir teacher accused of violating religious freedom over leading students in spiritual songsA choir teacher in Goddard was called out by the Freedom From Religion Foundation after leading her students in a song often interpreted as a plea for release from slavery.
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The legislation filed by Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin was inspired by Evergy’s rollout of time-of-use pricing plans to its customers last summer, which included a plan that would have quadrupled customers’ charges for energy used at times of high demand.
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Missouri's education department has released new performance data finding chronic absenteeism remains a problem for many schools. Attendance rates have dropped in Missouri by 10% since 2019, and they're especially low for Black students.
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The Girard School District Board of Education voted unanimously to remove a district dress code policy that stipulates boys’ hair cannot “touch the collar of a crew neck t-shirt … or extend below the earlobes.” The ACLU warned the policy violated religious freedom, after an 8-year-old member of the Wyandotte Nation was forced to cut his hair.