Kansas views on school finance, state finances, Moran
School finance – Gov. Sam Brownback called the school finance bill he signed the product of “delicate legislative compromise.” In reality it was rammed through by Republicans who previously have not taken seriously their duty to fully finance Kansas K-12 schools. Adding insult to injury, GOP lawmakers have unveiled a new school funding plan to take effect in 2017. It could send tax dollars to parents to pay for private schooling. That controversial, possibly unconstitutional idea deserves hearty debate when the Legislature returns in late April.
Authors of a new school funding plan apparently see the elimination of funding for extracurricular activities and school lunch programs as a way to focus state money on core educational functions, but losing the opportunities offered by various activities and having hungry children in class isn’t an acceptable trade-off. If local districts are left to fund extracurricular activities on their own, equity issues seem almost certain to arise.
State finances – Gov. Sam Brownback signed a proclamation that declared April as Financial Literacy Month in Kansas and announced a new online tool residents can use to better understand money, investments, savings and spending. Too bad the governor didn’t have these tools at his disposal a few years ago, before he and his band of merry lawmakers started tinkering irresponsibly with the state’s finances.
Nearly $1.4 billion has been diverted from the highway fund to other areas in the state budget. A governor who won’t admit his economic approach failed wants even more. Clearly, it’s time to change course. With all legislative seats up for grabs this year, voters can defuse Sam Brownback’s destructive agenda by sidelining his allies in the House and Senate.
Moran – Kansas has a long history of statesmanship. Between the moment on March 21 when Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said he supported holding hearings on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee and when he retracted it on April 1, the freshman senator was upholding this proud history. Since then, he has become yet another symbol of the partisan rancor that afflicts Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published April 17, 2016 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Kansas views on school finance, state finances, Moran."