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We anticipate seeing charts showing an “increase” in state funding vs. last year, because we’re changing education accounting again, just like there was an “increase” when KPERS was rolled into education funding. Money raised locally will now be routed through Topeka, and local banks will miss out on a significant amount of deposits. “But Sen. Laura Kelly, the ranking Democrat on the Senate budget committee, says the matter may not be that simple. ‘If that 20 mills from every little school district comes to the state treasury,’ Kelly said, ‘I don’t know how that would not be considered...

“‘It just lifts the covers off the Wizard of Oz so we know the Koch family is pulling the strings in the Kansas Chamber,’ [Rep. Tom] Moxley said” in an article in the Topeka Capital Journal. “According to Schwab’s email, his troubles with the state’s ‘Renewable Portfolio Standards’ started last year when a Koch Industries lobbyist approached him after a hearing on repealing the standards. During the hearing Schwab had commented on the fact that only think tanks and no Kansas businesses testified in favor of repeal.” We see the same issue with ALEC education policies, like the...