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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Leave a Comment Op-Ed Says We Should Be Celebrating Our Public Schools, Not Undercutting Them
An Op-Ed in the Kansas Reflector by Liz Meitl asks why the Legislature is advancing neovoucher schemes at this time. What would seem reasonable, then, would be for Kansas’ elected leaders to take this moment to celebrate the amazing, inspiring work of educators, and to help us support our students as we exhaustedly stumble towards the last phase of this horrible time in our country’s history. But that is not what the Kansas legislature is doing. In fact, they have chosen this moment, when school districts all across the state are trying to figure out how to bring students...
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Leave a Comment HB 2119 – Ed Savings Accts – Who Supports and Who Opposes?
This photo is from our last walk to Topeka in 2016 when Kansans sick of years of legislators who listened to Koch-funded lobbyists more than their own constituents on education and tax policy made their voices heard. Yesterday, we were reminded of those days as we testified against HB 2119, an ESA (voucher) bill that has no academic standards for the schools and vendors receiving money under the program. Take a look at the lists of proponents and opponents of the bill. We’ll be watching to see whether this bill passes out of committee. Proponents Kansas Policy Institute...
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