Budget cuts in Kansas schools are real.
“Hiawatha’s schools have been forced to reduce extracurricular programs and non-core classes like art and music. Class sizes have increased, and school officials said that the only thing that has prevented cuts to core classes like math and English are teachers who have consented to pay freezes.
“Such conditions have made the school system, historically Hiawatha’s biggest employer, a less attractive place to work. It’s not just students who’ve been hurt, officials argued to HuffPost, but the town as a whole. They feared that people who might otherwise consider moving to Hiawatha are going elsewhere, like nearby Nebraska.”
“‘It used to be that you’d start working with us when you were 18 and would work with us for your whole career,’ said Penny Hargrove, superintendent of Hiawatha Public Schools. ‘Now, because of the uncertainty of whether we’ll be able to keep funding levels from one year to the next, people are a little leery to work with us.’
“If you’re a breadwinner for a family of four, Hargrove said, the starting salary for a teaching position wouldn’t lift you above the poverty line — which is $23,850, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“‘I’ve don’t think I’ve ever seen morale so low,’ observed Chris Vitt, a biology and anatomy teacher at Hiawatha High School and 31-year veteran of the school district.
“But what really scares local educators is consolidation, a scenario in which Hiawatha’s population drops so much that its schools are forced to merge with those of nearby towns. Gernon and Hargrove worry that the declining quality of public services could bring about such a fate.
“‘The heart of rural communities are their schools,’ Hargrove said. ‘You’ve grown up in this community, and now they’re going to blend with one of their archrivals. When you lose that school, you lose your identity as a community.’
“‘We try to be fiscally responsible and pray that our enrollment doesn’t go down to the point where we’re forced to do that,’ she added. ‘But we’ve just continued to cut and cut and cut.’
“The Brownback campaign insists that school funding has increased by nearly $400 million statewide and cites reports showing increases in per-pupil funding levels. But the governor’s detractors, like Mayor Gernon, contend that such numbers are bookkeeping gimmicks that belie the dire situation on the ground. Specifically, the critics argue that the Brownback administration’s reclassification of KPERS, the state’s teacher pension fund, as part of the general education budget has misleadingly inflated school funding levels.
“Kansas’ financial woes have left many locals seething. ‘Look at the Koch brothers,’ said Gernon. ‘How much money do you think Brownback has put in their pockets by cutting the personal income tax? Who have they employed?’
“Gernon sees the eroding schools as contrary to Kansas’ identity. ‘There’s this perception at some levels of the state government that people in public education are just wasting money,’ he said. ‘It’s amazing how our schools have survived.’ The Kansas constitution requires the state to provide its children with a solid education.
“‘We’ve never had a legislature that was so …’ Hargrove said before trailing off, noting that her role as a nonpartisan administrator forbade her from engaging in political activity.
“Gernon finished Hargrove’s sentence for her. ‘… hostile,’ he said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/22/kansas-governor-race_n_6023360.html