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Kansas Public Schools: Draconian Cuts?
Read more: Kansas Public Schools: Draconian Cuts?As Kansas prepares to make spending cuts to balance the budget in face of declining revenue, special interest groups roll out the horror stories of what funding cuts will do. A public school advocacy group in Kansas is sending emails with this message: “A 3-5% cut in school funding will force school districts to make…
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A Few Questions for AFP’s Derrick Sontag
Read more: A Few Questions for AFP’s Derrick SontagI and a few others met with Americans For Prosperity’s Kansas state director Derrick Sontag on Friday. Following are a few of the questions I asked, and Derrick’s answers. Q. Last year AFP had a model budget. Did that have anything to do with the relatively low increase in spending — compared to previous years…
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A Cautionary Note for Kansas Wind Power
Read more: A Cautionary Note for Kansas Wind PowerA piece in the Wall Street Journal contains some useful information that we should keep in mind as we consider the future of energy in Kansas, even though the focus of the column is the debate over wind power on Nantucket Sound. (Blowhards, January 24, 2009). One thing is the hypocrisy of “green” power proponents.
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Kansas has the appearance, without the reality, of judicial accountability
Read more: Kansas has the appearance, without the reality, of judicial accountabilityFriday’s Wichita Eagle contained an op-ed by a University of Kansas law professor that discussed the method of selecting supreme court justices in Kansas. A Kansas blogger (The Kansas Jackass) noticed this piece and attempted to take Prof. Ware to task. But it seems like the Jackass is unable to grasp the meaning of one…
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Wichita City and School District Campaign Events and Announcements
Read more: Wichita City and School District Campaign Events and AnnouncementsI’ve started a page of announcements and events for local campaigns. The link is Wichita City and School District Campaign Events and Announcements. Send notice of events and announcements to me at bob.weeks@gmail.com.
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Government Spending Is No Free Lunch
Read more: Government Spending Is No Free LunchRobert J. Barro, an economics professor at Harvard University and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, has an excellent commentary in The Wall Street Journal. This piece explains the problems with the multiplier that backers of government stimulus programs count on to make the government spending work. Here’s an excerpt: Back in the…
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Kansas Senator Chris Steineger on Redesigning Kansas Government
Read more: Kansas Senator Chris Steineger on Redesigning Kansas GovernmentOn January 10, 2009, Kansas Senator Chris Steineger, Democrat from Kansas City, spoke to some 300 citizens at Americans For Prosperity‘s Defending the American Dream Summit in Wichita. Steineger said that we should look at the current budget crisis in Kansas as an opportunity to redesign and reinvent Kansas government. He asked “why do we…
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Walking Door-to-Door with Marcey — ummm — Lavonta?
Read more: Walking Door-to-Door with Marcey — ummm — Lavonta?Wichita city council member Lavonta Williams just launched the website that supports her campaign for re-election. It’s a nice website, but it has a little mistake that gives us a clue as to who might be running Williams’ campaign. Her “Get involved” page lists this as one of the ways you can help Williams: “Walking…
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Invisible Kansans Tell Their Stories
Read more: Invisible Kansans Tell Their StoriesIt’s one of the toughest issues for advocates of limited government to address — the plight of those who truly aren’t in a position to help themselves. The website InvisibleKansans.org tells some stories of people in these situations. But is the solution for these people more government? As it is, these people are — at…
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Budget reform tops AFP — Kansas legislative agenda
Read more: Budget reform tops AFP — Kansas legislative agendaHere’s a press release from AFP — Kansas announcing that organization’s legislative agenda for Kansas. I’ll be reporting more about this after a meeting with AFP representatives tomorrow. TOPEKA — The free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity — Kansas today announced its priorities for the 2009 legislative session. ?Our legislative agenda this year focuses on…
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First Amendment Defense Thorny Issue for Kansas Ethics Commission
Read more: First Amendment Defense Thorny Issue for Kansas Ethics CommissionThe Kansas Meadowlark is covering a case before the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission that has free speech implications. The Meadowlark’s report is First Amendment Defense Thorny Issue for Ethics Commission.
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Is 65 Percent the Solution?
Read more: Is 65 Percent the Solution?At the Kansas Education blog, a post titled Is 65 Percent the Solution? examines some of the arguments and policy considerations surrounding the popular proposal that schools must spend at least 65 percent of their funds in the classroom. Whatever that — “in the classroom” or on “instruction” — means. And that’s part of the…