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Earlier this year, the legislature passed a bill granting Gov. Brownback the power to appoint judges to the Kansas Court of Appeals, eliminating the merit selection process that had served the state well for many years and was instituted to prevent blatantly political appointments. We agree with this editorial and remind readers that the bill to amend the Kansas Constitution to allow the governor to also select Supreme Court nominees was defeated last session but will be back. One target of these bills is school funding cases as the courts have ruled that the legislature is not abiding by...

“This information should explain why school districts are experiencing budget ‘cuts’ even though funding has remained relatively ‘flat’ since 2009 in actual dollars, not adjusted for inflation. In terms of actual purchasing power, total funding per pupil has declined by over seven percent over the past five years. The portion of school districts budget that can actually be used for general educational purposes, like teacher and support staff salaries, has dropped over 11 percent in real terms.” http://tallmankasb.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-is-real-state-of-kansas-school.html...

Not everything in this piece applies to Kansas, but most of it does: http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Lloyd_Snow_Top_10_reasons_Oklahoma_public_schools_are/20130816_61_A12_CUTLIN863773...