Are your local legislators making inaccurate statements about school funding? If so, please correct them. Thank you Great Bend Tribune for this editorial.

“But those harsh comments are not only hard to swallow, they’re off target. Buses are a capital outlay expense. Straub should know that. If she doesn’t, perhaps her party has made a poor decision in asking her to fill that seat.

“In a nutshell, here’s some school finance basics: The funds allotted each school district are divvied up into many different buckets, and the money in each bucket can only be spent for what it’s designated for.

“The Capital Outlay bucket includes funds that pay for the tangible items that enhance learning such as new buses, new buildings and new turf.

“Teacher salaries are paid from a district’s General Fund bucket, and that’s the bucket those additional dollars are meant to fill…

“Straub’s comments echo those made a week earlier by Rep. Barbara Wasinger (R-Hays), who also pointed fingers at Great Bend, Russell and Shawnee school districts in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public about how these new dollars may be spent. This bears the question, are these comments simply part of a ‘sore loser’ campaign by conservatives who were against the bill from the start?”
https://www.gbtribune.com/opinion/no-fooling/

Originally posted to Facebook on 04/22/2019.