Kansas views on public schools, defunding courts, Medicaid expansion, cop cameras, obesity rate
Public schools – Gov. Sam Brownback does his state no service by picking fights with school districts, as he did when he accused the Garden City school district of a big spending increase that hadn’t occurred. In fact, the Governor’s Office frequently puts out incorrect and misleading information regarding schools and funding, stoking the tensions. It would help if Brownback would acknowledge that schools face growing expenses for health care for employees and technology needs instead of relentlessly demanding “efficiencies” from districts that have operated on lean budgets for years. Kansas schools give the state much to be proud of. The governor should be telling their story, not knocking them down.
Court conflict – Attorney General Derek Schmidt was right on when he asked all involved in the disputes among the legislative, executive and judicial branches to adopt “a healthy dose of humility and restraint.” It is well past time for Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican leaders in the Legislature to remember that the independence of the judiciary is a foundation block of our democratic system. Pursuing the politics of punishing the Supreme Court for past rulings is simply unacceptable. Such politics threaten the freedom of every Kansan.
While Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt deserves credit for his petition to preserve the judicial system’s funding, he probably should have done more to keep his client out of court in the first place. When legislators were contemplating stepping on the Kansas Supreme Court’s constitutional authority and pulling funding from a branch of government the Legislature is obligated to fund, Schmidt should have stepped in to calm the situation and resolve it without unnecessary confrontation, which is what is happening now.
Medicaid expansion – The refusal to consider various options to expand Medicaid and federal reimbursements is taking a toll on Kansas hospitals, as well as individual patients. The loss of a hospital is devastating to a small community. Perhaps the closing of Mercy Hospital in Independence will provide a needed wake-up call on this issue.
Cop cameras – Thanks to a U.S. Department of Justice grant, several police departments in Kansas will be able to expand the use of body-mounted cameras for their officers. The grant will give $45,205 to the Dodge City Police Department to purchase the cameras. Another $352,500 will land in Kansas City, Kan., and $250,000 will be spent in Wichita. Ideally, the grant will serve as a catalyst for more departments across the state to purchase and deploy such cameras.
Obesity rate – Do you recall the Kansas Department of Commerce’s advertising campaign that rolled out a decade ago? “Kansas: As big as you think” was meant to present a positive image of the state. Turns out it might just have been a premonition. Kansas is now the 13th fattest state in the nation, according to a report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. With an obesity rate of 31.3 percent, Kansas continues its waddle to the top. Kansas joined only four other states in posting an increase between 2013 and last year. Kansas cannot afford to be as big as we are.
This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Kansas views on public schools, defunding courts, Medicaid expansion, cop cameras, obesity rate."