Kansas views on school ruling, income taxes, town halls, Roberts
School ruling – The Kansas Supreme Court has spoken – again. The state’s schools are unconstitutionally underfunded, a deficiency the governor and the Legislature must correct by the end of June. The clock ticks for students and others as year after year of underfunding creates a cohort of kids cheated out of a quality public education.
Everyone knew it was possible the Kansas Supreme Court could rule in favor of the school districts, but Gov. Sam Brownback was stridently opposed to a tax bill that would have helped the state absorb the cost of this decision. Now that the decision has been made, his options are running out.
Income taxes – A majority of Kansans said last November they wanted to be rid of the “march to zero” on income taxes. Little has changed since then except a rating agency has warned that Kansas’ credit rating may again be downgraded. It is past time to turn the “march to zero” around and make it a march to fiscal sanity.
Town halls – Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran have missed out on scheduled town hall meetings where hundreds of constituents gathered to speak to the Washington, D.C., officials. We have in Congress a group of people who are fearful of being held responsible for their actions.
Roberts – Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., been too wishy-washy in reacting to President Trump’s run on trade opportunities, to include the president wasting no time in killing U.S. producers’ hopes offered through a Trans-Pacific Partnership. The senior U.S. senator from Kansas has to be more of a leader on the vital matter of trade.
This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Kansas views on school ruling, income taxes, town halls, Roberts."