The push to move school board and other municipal elections to the fall and make them partisan is not benign. It represents an effort to politicize local offices and make them subject to the same partisan postcards we just saw for statewide offices. It would also lead to voters casting uninformed ballots on school board races which would likely get overwhelmed by the other races at that time. Kansans need to stay informed on this issue. “‘I think it’s a terrible idea,’ said Lawrence school board president Shannon Kimball. ‘The partisan politics going on at the state level...
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Wellington Daily News reports Hoffman and Abrams not concerned about budget impact on schools
And so the game continues. Instead of “cuts”, we can expect “efficiencies” and changes to weightings and the formula per Rep. Hoffman and Sen. Abrams while waiting for thousands of jobs to come flooding into Kansas. What are your legislators saying? “State legislators from Sumner County defended the tax cuts given by Gov. Sam Brownback, and said they believe they will end up helping the state, as they spoke at a legislative update meeting held at the Donut Shop in Wellington Saturday. “Several people at the meeting, sponsored by the Sumner County Farm Bureau, questioned Rep. Kyle Hoffman...
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Leave a Comment Brownback targets KPERS funds
“But they’re unlikely to be heard or even considered, based on comments from House Speaker Ray Merrick, the Stilwell Republican closely aligned with the governor who recently unleashed this gem: ‘Government employees produce nothing. They’re a net consumer. And you got that cost forever and ever and ever because they’re on the KPERS (pension) plan, they’re on all the government insurance and everything.’ “Yet alongside teachers, firefighters, police and other state employees, state legislators like Merrick also participate in KPERS. “Consider his uninformed, insulting remarks more proof of the thoughtlessness that’s helped drive poor decision-making of late in...
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Leave a Comment Steve Rose warns of imminent cuts
“There are those in Kansas who are giddy at the idea of making up a billion-dollar deficit by ‘living within our means.’ “To them — and I am including the think tank Kansas Policy Institute, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the vast majority of legislators and the governor himself — this is a rare opportunity to take out the spreadsheets and just start whacking away at numbers with little regard for the consequences.” Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/steve-rose/article3939336.html#storylink=cpy...
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