It’s go time! Several voucher-type bills have been passed out of the K-12 Education Budget Committee or have been blessed or moved to non-exempt committees to keep them alive past the turnaround deadline, so we may have more action alerts in the coming days and weeks. For today, we are asking you to contact your Representative in the House and ask them to vote NO on the expansion of the tax credit scholarship program in HB 2465. We don’t know when this bill may be heard, so please send your emails today if possible. For more information on HB 2465, please see our testimony here: http://gameonforkansasschools.com/…/HB2465-Expand-Tax-Credi…
If you don’t know who your representative is, use this link: https://ksleglookup.org.

Here is recommended text for your email. Feel free to add your own personal touches.

Dear Representative,

I understand HB 2465 may be coming to the floor of the House this week, and I am urging you to vote no on this bill. HB 2465 constitutes a massive expansion of the tax credit scholarship program and a dramatic move away from its stated purpose. At a time when we are still phasing in the Gannon funding for our public school students, it is inappropriate to be subsidizing private education, especially when there is no showing that the student is failing to meet standards, that the public school the student is attending is struggling, or that the private school receiving funds that would otherwise go to the State General Fund has better educational outcomes for similar students. The fact that HB 2526 has been amended into HB 2465 does not change my opinion of this bill. HB 2526 removes the Fort Leavenworth school district from the formula used to calculate how the legislature disburses aid to school district bond projects enacted after July 1, 2020. Removing the military base’s school district, which has virtually no assessed value, from the calculation would help the state avoid a future scenario in which the aid formula is dis-equalized; however, that fix is not needed this year. I oppose using a good bill-2526-to try to get legislators to vote for a bad bill-2465, the tax credit scholarship expansion. Please vote NO on HB 2465.

Originally posted to Facebook 3/11/2020.