Thank you Emporia Board of Education member Brent Windsor for speaking up.
“Two weeks ago, the Governor announced that he would reduce K-12 and higher education budgets by $44.5 million. This goes directly against the promise he made during his re-election campaign that he would not reduce funding to education. During his State of the State address, the Governor even went so far as to blame education for the reason Kansas is in financial trouble. I find that hard to swallow when tax cuts implemented in 2012 have resulted in a $344 million dollar deficit projected for this year and an additional $600 million for FY ’16…
“Our school district will certainly lose $269,000 and if future payment delays are implemented, as projected, those losses will easily rise to $517,000 or more… I am extremely concerned with disinformation distributed by various interest groups, including the Governor’s office, as they publish messages that are misleading and include half-truths. Last week I heard the comment, ‘education isn’t getting cut, it’s just getting less of an increase over the previous year.’ Well yes, I suppose that could be true. But the rest of the story is that total spending on education is at the lowest it has been since 1985 at only 4.48% of Kansan’s personal income. And now the Courts have ruled that Kansas is not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a public education for every child in this State.
“When will our governor and legislative body realize that our current tax policy is not sustainable? The realization is probably already there. I simply ask that the Governor, and the legislature, look at the results and understand that Kansas is not a State that can survive on a low-to-no income tax policy. What prevents our leadership from admitting that their experiment isn’t working and modifications need to be made? What would happen if mistakes were admitted and a path towards growth was implemented?”