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“Benched” legislators pass block grant bill

Before the primary and general elections last summer and fall we did rosters of legislators and candidates who we believed were true supporters of public education. We also did a “bench for academic ineligibility” for legislators we have found consistently vote against public education interests, whether it’s voting against funding, or voting for policy that would negatively impact our schools. Most of them were re-elected anyway, and every single one of them voted for the block grant bill even though their districts and/or their constituents generally asked them to vote against it. Are any of the following your...
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Block grant bill passes House

Final vote in the House on the block grant bill. 64-57, with 63 votes needed to pass. Yea – (64) (Are they representing you?) Anthimides, Barker, Barton, Boldra, Bradford, Bruchman, Brunk, Campbell, Carpenter, Carpenter, Claeys, Corbet, Couture-Lovelady, Davis, DeGraaf, Dove, Esau, Estes, Garber, Goico, Grosserode, Hawkins, Hedke, Highland, Hildabrand, Hoffman, Houser, Huebert, Hutchins, Hutton, Jones, Jones, Kahrs, Kelley, Kiegerl, Kleeb, Lunn, Macheers, Mason, Mast, McPherson, Merrick, O’Brien, Osterman, Pauls, Powell, Proehl, Read, Rhoades, Rubin, Ryckman, Ryckman Sr., Scapa, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Smith, Suellentrop, Sutton, Thimesch, Todd, Vickrey, Whitmer, Williams, Nay – (57) (Please thank them.) Alcala, Alford, Becker,...
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Reporters stage walkout

If you don’t already subscribe to your local paper and one or two others, you should. Electronic subscriptions are easy, and Kansas reporters are a valuable resource for those of us who can’t be in Topeka regularly. Follow the reporters on Twitter, too. We thank them for making the legislative process as transparent as possible. It may have all been just a big misunderstanding. But the Kansas statehouse press corps scored a point for transparency on Monday, when they staged a walkout rather than take part in an off-the-record briefing from legislators. The subject at hand was the...
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Eudora school district cutting expenses

“Kristin Magette, Director of Communications for Eudora Schools said, ‘The state isn’t taking in enough money to pay its bills, and until the revenue problem is fixed at the state level, our district has everything to lose.’ “Magette explained the district has to cut $81,000 in four months.” Read more here: http://www.kshb.com/news/region-kansas/eudora-school-district-penny-pinching-after-kansas-budget-cuts...
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