The state’s budget problems affect its ability to fund schools properly, and the bad news continues to flow.
“Another dire budget forecast this week shows that expenses for the budget year beginning July 1 exceed expected revenues by $400 million.
“Irresponsible income tax cuts the Legislature passed in 2012 and 2013 created the hole in the state’s general fund. The governor and lawmakers have tried to fill it by shoveling in money from the designated highway fund and with other unwise gimmicks…The tax cuts will cause the state to lose almost $1 billion in revenue for the upcoming budget year, according to a state economist. And nothing that’s been proposed so far comes close to making up for that loss.
“Brownback and conservative Republicans in the Legislature justified the income tax cuts with outlandish predictions of boisterous economic growth. But analysts in the state Legislative Research Department now say the Kansas economy is growing at a slower rate than the national average, and growth in personal income is also lagging other states.
“Continuing to hope for some great wave of economic prosperity is clearly not the solution.”
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article19340370.html
This story also provides good information about the current economic situation: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article19321743.html