USD 259

Last week, leaders of the local teacher's union, United Teachers of Wichita, asked members to work only the hours mandated in their contracts on Monday to show unity in the midst of stalled contract negotiations with the district. That means arriving 10 minutes before the school day starts, taking a 40-minute duty-free lunch break and leaving 10 minutes after the day ends.

Recent Kansas ACT scores were higher than the national average.

More than 24,000 Kansas students took the 2016 ACT college entrance exam, which, according to a new report from the ACT, is the highest number of test-takers in the past five years.

The state’s average test score was 21.9 out of a total 36 points. In the Wichita Public Schools district, the average score was 19.7; nationally, students scored an average of 20.8 points.

Updated on 08/23/16 at 10:00 a.m:

The Wichita Public Schools board voted on Monday to approve the budget for the next school year.

The 662 million dollar budget passed 5 to 0, with 2 board members absent.

With the beginning of the school year a little more than a month away, Wichita’s public school district has an unusually high number of teacher vacancies.

Elementary schools in the district have the most openings at 13, followed by high schools and middle schools with 10 each. Special education programs in the district are short by 34 teachers.

Shannon Krysl, chief human resources officer with USD 259, says the number of unfilled positions is down significantly since June, when there were nearly 70 vacancies in elementary schools alone.

Starting Monday, parents can go online to enroll their children in Wichita Public Schools using a computer, smartphone or tablet.

Returning students in USD 259 can be enrolled using an active account with the district’s web portal, ParentVUE. Enrollment forms, class schedules, information on district policies, and waivers are also available online. Parents can also pay for school meals and take care of enrollment fees through the web portal.

Updated: Kansas schools will be able to keep their doors open and the threat of a potential statewide shutdown is over. The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that a bill passed by lawmakers last Friday and signed by Governor Sam Brownback on Monday, fixes inequities in school funding between rich and poor districts.

Now, the court will move on to the larger question of whether the Legislature is providing adequate funding to schools, which officials say could involve hundreds of millions of dollars. A date for those arguments has not been set.

A local program that provides free healthy meals for children at risk of hunger during the summer is asking for urgent help from the community.

The Filling the Gap Lunches for Kids program serves more than 800 children at more than a dozen sites in the Wichita area each day. But because Wichita’s public schools are starting later this year, the program will be providing meals to students for a week longer than expected.