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Op-Ed Explains Latest Effort to Privatize Education in Kansas

Also….ACTION ALERT! SB 61 (tax credit scholarship expansion) will be on the Senate floor at 2:30 TODAY! Urge your senator to vote NO. “Yet if the rationale for Kansas vouchers is to improve educational outcomes for at-risk youth, then wouldn’t we expect these bills to serve students who are actually at-risk? Wouldn’t we expect the Legislature to ensure that private schools and home school parents who receive public dollars are held accountable for students’ progress and use of funds?We should, and one problem with these bills is that they have no meaningful oversight or way to ensure accountability.”...
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Action Alert

Encourage your Senator to Vote No on SB 61. Kansas senators are hearing from Kansas Policy Institute. Are they hearing from you? Urge them to vote NO on SB61 tax credit scholarship bill expansion which may be on the Senate floor TOMORROW (THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11). If you don’t know who your senator is, you can input your address here: https://openstates.org/ks/legislators/. Reasons to vote no: the bill expands further beyond at-risk students, the bill removes the requirement students come from one of the 100 lowest-performing schools, the program still does not require participating schools to be accredited by the...
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Private Schools Admit They Don’t Keep All Kids

We oppose private schools receiving public tax dollars so long as they are not required to accept all children and they are not required to keep the students they accept. In this video from a hearing on the tax credit scholarship expansion bill, Michael Wescott, Director of Development Catholic Diocese of Wichita admits their schools sometimes transition kids to other schools because they’re not succeeding academically. The Senate tax credit scholarship bill may be heard on the Senate floor tomorrow (Thursday). Has your Senator heard from you? If you don’t know who your senator is, you can input...
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Costly Tax Bill Passes Senate

The tax bill that actually passed the Senate last night 24-15 is nothing short of ridiculous. It is estimated to cost almost $500 million in its first year and build from there. Maybe they’re planning to use this in the next election cycle for their postcards. Maybe they want to go into conference committee with a lot of room to negotiate before they even get to something that wouldn’t bankrupt the state. Maybe they just want Governor Kelly to have to go on record with a veto of a (ridiculous) tax cut. Whatever the reason, it’s ridiculous. We’ve...
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