Government spending Archives - Page 6 of 75 Voice For Liberty

Mar

Kansas and Iowa schools

Should Kansas schools aspire to be more like Iowa schools? The Kansas Association of School Boards lists Iowa as an "aspirational" state, that is, one that Kansas should consider a role model. I've gathered some data from both states. The United States Census Bureau collects data from the states as part of its Annual Survey of School System Finances program. [1. U.S. Census Bureau. Annual Survey of School System Finances. Available at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances.html.] Data is available through fiscal year 2015. The National Education Association also gathers data. [2. National Education Association. Rankings of States and Estimates of School Statistics. Available…

WichitaLiberty.TV: What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan

Mar

By Bob Weeks

WichitaLiberty.TV: What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan

In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Dave Trabert of Kansas Policy Institute joins Bob and Karl to discuss his new book What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan –- The Undoing of a Good Idea. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 186, broadcast March 3, 2018. Shownotes Kansas tax experiment – not a cautionary tale but lessons to be learned Kansas Policy Institute

Mar

By Bob Weeks

What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan

From Kansas Policy Institute. What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan New Book Outlines Tax Lessons from Kansas “Experiment” Tax relief opponents have repeatedly pointed to the 2012 Kansas tax plan as their primary example of why tax cuts do not work. But, other states like North Carolina, Indiana, and Tennessee contemporaneously, and successfully, cut taxes. What was different about the Kansas experience? The answer to that question is multi-dimensional according to a new book from Kansas Policy Institute, entitled What Was Really the Matter with the Kansas Tax Plan -- The Undoing of a Good Idea. The book covers the six years…

Dale Dennis, sage of Kansas school finance?

Jan

By Bob Weeks

Dale Dennis, sage of Kansas school finance?

Is the state's leading expert on school funding truly knowledgeable, or is he untrustworthy? Recent events have found Kansas Department of Education’s Deputy Commissioner Dale Dennis in the news regarding a possible mistake or misapplication of school funds. The school spending establishment has rushed to his rescue, with Kansas National Education Association, Kansas Association of School Boards, United School Administrators of Kansas, Kansas School Superintendents Association, and American Federation of Teachers Kansas issuing a joint statement. Dale Dennis, says the statement, is "the best friend public education and the kids of Kansas have had." He is described as "the most…

Dec

By Bob Weeks

Wichita check register

Wichita spending data presented as a summary, and as a list. As part of an ongoing transparency project, I asked the City of Wichita for check register data. I’ve made the data available in a visualization using Tableau Public. Click here to access the visualization. Analyzing this data requires a bit of local knowledge. For example, there is a vendor named “Visit Wichita” that started to receive monthly payments in March 2015. What about payments for January and February? Those were made to a vendor named “Go Wichita,” which changed its name to “Visit Wichita.” Similarly, there are payments made…

Dec

By Bob Weeks

Briefs

Another Wichita Eagle publisher Wichita Business Journal: "McClatchy Co. spokeswoman Jeanne Segal told the Wichita Business Journal on Wednesday that Kelly Mirt has resigned and will rejoin his family in North Carolina. ... Mirt was announced as the Eagle's publisher and vice president of advertising in July. ... Mirt came to Wichita after the of former Eagle publisher Roy Heatherly in May. Mirt was the newspaper's sixth publisher since 2007." See Wichita Eagle publisher resigns, McClatchy says. The system is rigged against you Wichita Eagle Opinion Line, December 6, 2017: "Reading the article about Southeast High School has hardened my…

Cost per visitor to Wichita cultural attractions

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Cost per visitor to Wichita cultural attractions

Wichitans might be surprised to learn the cost of cultural attractions. The price of adult admission to the Wichita Art Museum is $7.00, or free on Saturdays thanks to the generosity of Colby Sandlian, a Wichita businessman. But the cost of admission is much higher. For 2016, Wichita city documents report a cost per visitor of $54.71. That was down from the previous year's cost of $55.37. The cost per visitor figures the city reports each year are presented in a nearby table. For each year the city reports the cost per visitor along with a target for the next…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Kansas school spending

New data for spending in Kansas schools is available. Through its Data Central section, Kansas State Department of Education has made spending figures available for the school year ending in spring 2017, or the fiscal 2017 school year. These are amounts per pupil, adjusted for inflation to 2016 dollars, showing change from 2016 to 2017. State aid: $8,613 to $8,714 Federal aid: $1,058 to $1,082 Local: $3,460 to 3,441 Total: $13,144 to $13,326 In 2015 there was a shift in the way state and local figures are allocated, so it's important to look at state and local spending as a…

A consultant to help Wichita’s confidence factor

Oct

By Bob Weeks

A consultant to help Wichita’s confidence factor

Wichita considers hiring a consultant to help find a baseball team. In August the Wichita Eagle reported: Wichitans can hope for an announcement on a new affiliated baseball team coming to Wichita by the end of 2017, Mayor Jeff Longwell says. “By the end of this calendar year, we feel confident that we will be able to announce a team, who the team is, all of the above,” Longwell told The Eagle Tuesday afternoon. “We hope that we can complete all of those conversations by the end of this year and be able to announce a contract in place.” [1.…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

Kansas school fund balances

Kansas school fund balances rose this year, in both absolute dollars and dollars per pupil. As Kansans debate school funding, as the Kansas Supreme Court orders more school spending, and as schools insist that spending has been slashed, a fact remains: Kansas schools don't spend all the money they've been given. Unspent fund balances grow in many years, and grew this year. Fund balances are necessary for cash flow management. They buffer the flows of receipts and expenditures. The issue is what levels of balances are necessary, and, more importantly, how the balances change over years. In Kansas, school districts…