Our children have become a “pay-for”. Duane Goossen, Senior Fellow at the Kansas Center for Economic Growth and former Kansas Budget Director, explains it here.

“The income tax cuts have also been paid for by cutting back state services. The most prominent example is the switch of school aid to a block grant formula. The block grant lowered classroom funding and then froze that diminished funding in place for the next two years. The block grant was not implemented because it was a better, fairer way to distribute funds. Rather, the key purpose was to put a chokehold on school finance in order to make up for a portion of the revenue loss from the income tax cuts. In response, school districts have shortened their school year, chopped programs, and raised property taxes. And in ongoing school finance litigation, the Kansas district court has already ruled the block grant system inadequately funds schools, thus violating the state constitution.”

Read more here: http://www.hayspost.com/2015/07/17/insight-kansas-the-pay-fors-come-due/