A simple first step along these lines is the "DFT/CIS" method, originally introduced by Grimme, which uses molecular orbitals (MOs) from Kohn-Sham theory within a modified form of configuration interaction with single substitutions (CIS). The use of Kohn-Sham eigenvalues within the CIS formalism leads to more accurate excitation energies as compared to CIS itself, as orbital energy gaps are modeled more accurately, yet the CIS formalism is free of self-interaction problems that sometimes plague time-dependent (TD-)DFT. The DFT/CIS approach has been extended to multireference CI wave func-tions (DFT/MRCI), and that approach is experiencing something of a revival. The CIS-based version still offers some attractive features, however, including an integral-direct formulation that is extremely efficient for large systems and restricted open-shell formulations that can achieve correct multiplet structure. In the present work, we extend the parameterization of DFT/CIS to facilitate its use in x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), including corelevel excitations of transition metal elements. Metal pre-edge features are particularly informative, and TD-DFT is a popular method of choice for simulating metal pre-edge x-ray spectra. As usual for TD-DFT, excitation energies are sensitive to the choice of exchangecorrelation (XC) functional, even as compared to groundstate properties. Core-level excitation energies are significantly shifted relative to experiment, with errors of 10 eV for second-row elements and even larger for heavier elements. Although peak splittings and chemical shifts are preserved to much greater accuracy, often rivaling that of correlated wave function methods, the need for large a posteriori shifts can make it difficult to identify elemental edges in cases where multiple edges overlap. The present work introduces a reparameterization of the DFT/CIS method that is appropriate for both valence and core-level spectroscopy, where only the former has been previously considered in this context. Our parameterization is based on a range-separated hybrid functional and extends the semi-empirical shifts in the CIS matrix elements to include core levels of elements beyond Ne. For XANES applications we have implemented DFT/CIS using a core/valence separation (CVS) approximation. This approach, which is sometimes called TD-DFT with a restricted excitation window, amounts to using an active space consisting of a few occupied orbitals of interest (core states) along with the full virtual space. The present work focuses on elemental K-edge excitations, meaning those originating from 1s orbitals. These transitions are not affected by multiplet problems, so that a restricted open-shell formulation is unnecessary, and furthermore the effect of spin-orbit coupling is negligible. These extensions can be pursued in due course but the present work demonstrates that DFT/CIS affords a balanced description of both valence and core-level excitation energies while eliminating large systematic errors in the latter. DFT/CIS can thus be regarded as a (semi-empirical) black-box approach to computational electronic spectroscopy, from core to valence.