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“I have a hard time looking at the school children in my neighborhood, and saying, I’m going to do an experiment on you, and if we lose, your schools are going down the tubes.” Rep. Barbara Bollier on NPR discussing the Kansas income tax experiment. http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=171822472...

 Please read this story about inaccurate numbers being used by Brownback in a powerpoint presentation he’s giving throughout the state. “Brownback’s numbers matter because they’re being used by his administration and the Legislature to guide and justify state spending policy decisions, especially in education. The governor has used his presentation to drum up public support for plans to cut income taxes and to resist a recent court decision that found the state isn’t meeting its constitutional mandate to provide adequate funding for schools.” Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/02/16/2679638/governors-numbers-come-under-question.html#storylink=cpy...

 Kansas HB 2263 is ALEC legislation proposing special education vouchers in Kansas. Here’s a post from Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education. We agree with it. Here is a powerful letter to Rep. Jim Lucas from our friend and public educati…on advocate, Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer: Dear Rep. Lucas, I have watched some of the proceedings in the hearings on the school voucher bill (1003) and others. In these meetings, I keep hearing you repeat the question, “Shouldn’t parents have a choice of where their children should go to school?” Let me just assure you that, yes, I do believe...

In an opinion piece submitted to the Wichita Eagle Sen. Susan Wagle says that when “paycheck protections” were enacted in Utah, union political donations dropped 75%. Prohibiting voluntary payroll deductions is not about protecting employees, its about silencing dissent. In Kansas, it’s about silencing a group that will advocate for public schools when the likes of Sen. Wagle are pushing for constitutional amendments, changes to at-risk funding and other fiscal and policy measures harmful to public education. She knows employees find it easier to check a box than to remember to write a separate check for political contributions....