“The [block grant] law took effect on Thursday [April 2nd] and applies to districts for the current fiscal year, which runs through June 30, and the next two fiscal years. “The law reduces the amount of ‘equalization’ aid school districts receive for capital outlay and local option budgets. That’s money that school districts already had included in the current year’s budgets. In some cases, they already had received more state equalization funds than the state now says they’re entitled to, so they’re trying to figure out how to repay that money…This isn’t a problem, say state legislators. Their...
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Masterson accuses district of political games
Sen. Ty Masterson is accusing USD 437 of delaying a maintenance project for political reasons. Superintendent Dietrich “expressed gratitude that Masterson intends to address the concerns of districts like hers with a budget proviso, but she rejected his argument concerning her district’s cash balance. “’We don’t get tax distributions on a monthly basis,’ she said. ‘So it’s a whole cash flow issue.’ “USD 437 pays about $650,000 in custodial and maintenance salaries out of its maintenance fund, she said, and won’t receive its first major payment of 2015-2016 maintenance dollars until halfway through the school year. That will...
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Leave a Comment April 7 school board elections successful
It looks like the good guys generally won yesterday in low-turnout elections. Joe Beveridge defeated AFP-supported Robyn Essex in Olathe. In Blue Valley incumbent Pam Robinson defeated private school parent Alana Roethle who is using a lot of the same rhetoric we see from AFP. Sara Goodburn defeated Mark Ellis, who cites Dave Trabert as a reliable authority on school funding. Auburn-Washburn incumbent Tom Bruno defeated Mark Leenerts, who cites the Kansas Policy Institute. Voters recognized that if a school board candidate is supported by Americans for Prosperity, supports the block grant, uses KPI talking points or sends their children...
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Leave a Comment Ideological lobbyists influencing Kansas legislature
We disagree with the “pro-business” label in this story and the implication it’s just Democrats who see this issue, but otherwise see it as quite accurate. These lobbies are not “pro-business”; they have an extreme ideology based on the highly discredited Laffer curve low-tax, and an over reliance on the “free market”. “In case after case, many Statehouse observers have noted, the fate of major pieces of legislation this year has depended on one thing: the support or opposition it receives from a small number of pro-business lobby groups led by the Kansas Chamber, Americans for Prosperity, and...
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