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Stalemate continues

For those of you enjoying summer and not constantly watching our legislature, here’s a Sunday morning (June 7) update. We still don’t have a budget, we still don’t have a tax plan, and we still don’t have “certainty” with block grant funding. The Capitol press corps is providing detailed information on Twitter and in the newspapers. Here’s one good recap of where things stand. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2015/jun/06/furlough-threat-lifted-stalemate-continues-stateho/....
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Education supporters concerned about addition of school choice expansion to tax bill

“A late-session attempt by some lawmakers to expand a controversial private school tuition program has public school educators fearing a repeat of last spring, when lawmakers folded contentious K-12 policy changes into an appropriations bill in the eleventh hour.” We learned a lot at the end of the 2014 legislative session. We saw bills we opposed, which had not passed out of committee, put into the final appropriations bill to provide the funding to comply with the Gannon decision. We are watching this legislature very carefully as we are deeply concerned that additional anti-public school provisions could be...
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Corporate tax credit “scholarship” expansion added to tax bill

“Lawmakers added a school-choice provision to their tax plan Friday to allow direct payment of tax credit-supported scholarships to religious schools where parents tithe as payment for their children’s tuition. “A House-Senate tax conference committee added that to the latest tax bill, scheduled for a midnight vote on the Senate floor. “Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, said the provision is important to implementing a school-choice program passed last year that offers 70 percent tax credits to corporations donating to scholarships for at-risk students to leave public schools and go to private ones… “Rep. John Bradford, R-Lansing, asked in a...
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June 5 Special Alert from KASB on private school aid expansion

Private school aid added to tax bill The Kansas Senate will consider later tonight or Saturday morning a new tax plan in HB 2109 that includes expansion of the private school tax credit originally contained in Senate Bill 270. KASB strongly opposes this provision. The measure has been placed in the latest tax increase proposal as legislators deal with a $400 million budget hole facing an approaching deadline of state employee furloughs. Several key legislators say they have put the expanded private school tax credit proposal into the larger tax measure in order to attract votes from legislators...
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