Superintendent says resources needed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Urban education won't improve unless the state provides more resources to inner city districts, the superintendent of the Kansas City school district told state senators Wednesday night.

Bernard Taylor said urban schools won't get better without greater state commitment to early childhood education and increased standards for teachers, along with measures to attract more qualified principals.

"If we are put in a situation where we have more to do with fewer resources, you're going to be right back here again," Taylor told members of the Senate Interim Committee on Urban Education.

Its chairman, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said he is preparing legislation providing money for lower income students to attend the school of their choice.

Kinder said funding would come from tax credits given for donations to either public or private schools.

He said previous testimony is also leading him to support legislation to expand charter schools in St. Louis and Kansas City. One proposal would aim to get more colleges or universities to sponsor charter schools by helping them pay the costs of sponsorship, Kinder said before the hearing.

Kinder named the urban education panel last spring in response to controversy in the Kansas City school district, which is operating without accreditation.