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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — Kansas and Missouri begin shaping how Workforce Pell Grants will work in practice, with legislation in both states outlining program approval and implementation. Kansas — Lawmakers finalize the FY 2027 state budget and wrap up major education bills in conference committees ahead…
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Kansas Legislature passes state budget
This analysis originally appeared in Aligned’s weekly newsletter, where we track key education and workforce policy developments across Kansas and Missouri. Subscribe to get these updates delivered directly to your inbox. Late Thursday night into earlier this morning, the Kansas Senate (23-16) and House of…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — Missouri’s School Funding Modernization Task Force confronts a core structural question: how to update local effort calculations tied to 2004 property values while ensuring assessment practices are consistent across counties. We break down the tradeoffs and what…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — A seven-year review of federal data shows enrollment declining in both Kansas and Missouri while staffing per student increases. We break down where growth is concentrated, where roles are shrinking, and what the numbers mean as further enrollment…
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Aligned Releases 2025 Annual Report
In 2025, Aligned navigated leadership transition while expanding its policy impact across Kansas and Missouri. The organization deepened engagement with lawmakers, business leaders, and education stakeholders through statewide listening tours, advisory boards, research, and convenings. Highlights include major investments in education finance…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top News – State of the states; we break down what Missouri and Kansas governors signaled on education and workforce policy. Missouri Update – Early momentum builds around accountability, open enrollment, child care, and literacy, alongside a closer look…
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Update – October 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News – New national polling from the PIE Network reveals a major gap between parents’ perceptions of student achievement and actual performance data. Missouri Update – School Funding Modernization Task Force workgroups are developing early proposals for updating the state’s formula. A new…
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2025 Kansas Cradle to Career Listening Tour
At Aligned, we believe Kansas thrives when education and workforce systems work together. That belief guided us this year as we launched the Kansas Cradle to Career Listening Tour, a chance to step into communities to hear directly from Kansans about…
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Webinar: Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems
On September 10, 2025, Aligned partnered with the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) to host a webinar introducing Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDSs) and their role in aligning education and workforce priorities. SLDSs help states connect data across systems, inform policy, and provide valuable…
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Big Changes Ahead for Employer Child Care Tax Credits
Child care is no longer just a family issue. It is a workforce issue. Across the political spectrum, there is growing recognition that the lack of affordable, reliable care is holding back both parents and employers. In the U.S. mixed-delivery…
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72% of Kansas 8th Graders Aren’t Proficient in Math
In Kansas, an unacceptable number of students are struggling in math. Right now, 72% of Kansas 8th graders are below proficient in math. That’s not just a disappointing statistic. It’s a flashing red warning light for the future of our workforce, our economy, and…
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When Reading Fails, So Does the Future
Children who aren’t reading proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school, yet today, about one-third of Kansas students still read below grade level. With Kansas poised to add 54,000 new jobs by 2030, 80% of which will require education beyond…