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How to pay for special tax treatment in Wichita
Read more: How to pay for special tax treatment in WichitaMr. Mayor, members of the city council, I ask that you not vote to approve this request for a tax abatement, and that you cease this practice altogether. Alternatively, I ask that you adopt a practice that will help realize the costs of these actions. It is no doubt difficult to compete with other states…
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Tax Day is Here. Take No Cheer.
Read more: Tax Day is Here. Take No Cheer.As the annual tax deadline is here, we should take a moment to examine our level of awareness of the taxes we pay.
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Wichita school district values its information highly
Read more: Wichita school district values its information highlyRecently members of Wichitans for Effective Education asked USD 259, the Wichita public school district, this question: How many classrooms (and portables) are there in 2007-08? For 2006-07? This would seem a fairly simple question for the school district to answer. After all, part of the district’s argument for the proposed bond issue in 2008…
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Wichita school board action is very expensive
Read more: Wichita school board action is very expensiveIn a column in the April 6, 2008 Wichita Eagle, columnist Mark McCormick writes about the proposed $350 million bond issue for USD 259, the Wichita public school district, and states: “For the average Wichitan, taxes will rise about $45 a year.” How he arrived at this figure is unknown. He may be referring to…
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Wichita School Bond Issue: Explain Again the Need for a Delay
Read more: Wichita School Bond Issue: Explain Again the Need for a DelayIf Mr. Rogers believes the bond issue will be approved by voters on any election date, why is he willing to forgo these cost savings? And why is he willing to delay the opening of a high school by one year? Or were these facts they used to make their case really just fiction?
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Wichita School Board Poisons Democracy
Read more: Wichita School Board Poisons DemocracyThis action of the board of the Wichita school district poisons democracy. It gives the board and its apparently allied campaign group a tremendous advantage that no other group has, and by law, cannot have. The opposition groups can’t control the election schedule to suit the needs of their campaigns. We have to trust that…
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In Wichita, don’t take photographs of the school administration building!
Read more: In Wichita, don’t take photographs of the school administration building!While standing on a public sidewalk and taking a photograph of a public building, I was ordered to stop.
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The arithmetic of school choice in Wichita
Read more: The arithmetic of school choice in WichitaAs the residents of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, consider a bond issue whose purpose, partly, is to reduce overcrowding, we should consider a way to reduce overcrowding in schools that would be much less expensive. The district is not likely to consider this method. Whenever school choice implemented through vouchers or tax…
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Remarks to Wichita City Council, April 1, 2008
Read more: Remarks to Wichita City Council, April 1, 2008By asking for the TIF financing, developers are sending us a signal that without the special tax favor, their project would not be economically feasible. They evidently have judged that it would not be profitable. They must feel that they will not be able to sell or rent at prices that will cover their costs…
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Wichita school bond issue: “But I didn’t have kids 20 years ago”
Read more: Wichita school bond issue: “But I didn’t have kids 20 years ago”“I agree, but I didn’t have kids 20 years ago.” A statement like this, uttered by a member of Citizens Alliance For Responsible Education, a group that supports a bond issue for USD 259, the Wichita public school district, illustrates the fact that the proposed bond issue is, plain and simple, a measure that benefits…
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Open records in Kansas follow-up
Read more: Open records in Kansas follow-upI have been recruited to participate in the Sunshine Blogger Project, an effort to gauge the compliance of the nations’ governors with open records laws as they exist in each state. I wrote about my experience with the office of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius in this article: Open Records in Kansas. The letter I received…
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Private salary supplements to public officials is a problem
Read more: Private salary supplements to public officials is a problemUSD 259, the Wichita public school district, outgoing superintendent Winston Brooks has been receiving a supplemental salary paid for by private interests. This salary supplement, supporters say, was necessary to prevent Mr. Brooks from leaving Wichita for somewhere else where he would be paid more. One way to look at this salary supplement is that…