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So now we’re being told that KPERS cuts aren’t cuts to education, even though during the past year we were told that KPERS funding did count as education funding. We’re also being told that education and KPERS funding are not sustainable, and the legislature will look at “structural reforms”. We are fully aware that “structural reforms” that result in less spending are “cuts” no matter what you call them. We believe that it’s the current tax cuts that are unsustainable, not education and promised pensions. At least if we read really closely between the lines, we almost get...

Any discussion of Kansas test scores, achievement gaps and overall K-12 performance and funding needs that fails to explicitly acknowledge that over 50% of Kansas public school children are now low-income is fundamentally flawed. “Fellow board member Kathy Busch, R-Wichita, said the upward trend could mean schools need more resources. ‘It’s pretty indicative of what we’ve been dealing with for a while in Wichita,’ Busch said, ‘but it’s pretty eye-opening when we’re dealing with the whole state.'” http://cjonline.com/news/2014-12-09/kansas-low-income-students-exceed-50-first-time...

We note the irony in the administration’s recent claims of increasing school funding based on including catchup payments to the underfunded KPERS, while now claiming that despite cutting $41 million in KPERS payments, K-12 education has been left untouched. Will this underfunding continue and be used as a pretext to claim that we simply can’t afford KPERS and will need to gut it altogether? We’re also disturbed by the amount of cuts to programs for children. And we note that this plan is just the first step. The numbers look worse for 2015-16. “[Budget Director Shawn] Sullivan signaled...