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Hearing from constituents

Last week in talking about the bill to move local elections to the fall, Sen. Holmes objected that he was only hearing from organized groups and claimed John Q. Public supported the bill despite overwhelming opposition from municipalities, school boards, PTA, Game On and others. At the same time, legislators, including Rep. Hawkins referenced in the linked article, expressed irritation at being contacted by high school students about the bill to criminalize the teaching of material deemed by some to be “harmful to minors”. We believe legislators need to be more open to what qualifies as hearing from...
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KCEG and KEPC report shows KS lagging in key areas

This does not make us optimistic about the future of Kansas school funding. Please look at any efforts to “reform” the school funding formula in this context. Do you think a new formula will provide better funding for Kansas school children? “Kansas continues to lag the region in most measures of economic growth, an analysis of reports by the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors shows, despite promises that tax cuts would bring economic growth. “The analysis, jointly released by The Kansas Center for Economic Growth (KCEG) and the Kansas Economic Progress Council (KEPC), shows that in recent years,...
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Law enforcement officer urges support for early childhood programs

Early childhood programs are important. Our state is undervaluing them which will place greater burdens on our K-12 system and our law enforcement systems. We thank Sheriff Donald Ash for sharing this perspective. “There is no easy solution to reducing crime in our communities. As your leaders in law enforcement, we do all we can to enforce the law, catch the bad guys, prosecute them, and get them off the streets. That’s our job, and it’s our officers’ top responsibility. “But we also take seriously our responsibility to prevent crime and violence—to get ahead of the problems and...
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