Tag: Kansas Association of School Boards

  • Lack of data, oversight raises questions on Kansas school spending

    In the following report, investigative reporter Paul Soutar of the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy takes a look at school spending in Kansas. Particularly troubling is the decision to abandon an audit already in progress. A recent decision by the 2010 Commission to not complete an efficiency audit of K-12 schools in Kansas may…

  • School choice is a civil rights issue

    Al Sharpton called school reform the civil rights challenge of our time. He said that the enemy of opportunity for blacks in the U.S. was once Jim Crow; today, in a slap at the educational establishment, he said it was “Professor James Crow.” Sharpton is only partly correct. School reform is not solely a racial…

  • Watkins addresses Kansas budget, Republicans, schools

    Speaking at at the regular weekly meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm Club on May 22, 2009, Kansas House of Representatives member Jason Watkins addressed the Kansas budget, Kansas Republicans, and school spending. Regarding the budget during the past legislative session, which ended in May: Watkins felt there was an opportunity for reform that the legislature…

  • Kansas, once home to education equality, now lags in freedom

    At one time Kansas played a leading role in education equality, as Topeka was home to the school that produced the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision by the United States Supreme Court. Today, however, Kansas lags in educational freedom and choice. The public school lobby in Kansas does everything it can to stomp…

  • KNEA, the Kansas teachers union: more taxes are needed

    The public education spending lobby in Kansas is always looking for more tax dollars. A recent edition of the Kansas National Education Association newsletter Under the Dome for March 30, 2009 lays out the education spending lobby’s plans.

  • Kansas school lobby: not enough spending, not enough taxation

    In Topeka, the Kansas Association of School Boards rarely misses an opportunity to complain that spending on government schools is too low. The same goes for the Kansas National Education Association, the teachers union.

  • Kansas Education Lobby Always Prowling for Tax Dollars

    In Topeka, the Kansas Association of School Boards rarely misses an opportunity to reach deeper into the taxpayer’s pocket. The same goes for the Kansas National Education Association, the teachers union.

  • Testimony against taxpayer-funded lobbying

    The following testimony from John Todd explains some of the harmful effects of taxpayer-funded lobbying. Isn’t it terrible that that interests of governmental bodies like the city and county you live in or your local school district are different from your interests? As John explains, local government has become a special interest group, and like…

  • Wichita school bond issue not the only proposed tax increase

    As the residents of Wichita consider whether to vote for the $350 million school bond issue proposed by the board of USD 259 (Wichita public school district), be aware that the bond issue and its associated increase in property taxes is not the only tax increase the public schools in Kansas would like to have.…

  • Report from Topeka, July 1, 2005

    Thank you again, Karl Peterjohn of the Kansas Taxpayers Network, for your insights into the Kansas Legislature’s special session. The Kansas house begins their 10:30 AM session with a constitutional amendment to reassert their fiscal powers in a key vote for this special session. Last Sunday a similar amendment failed getting only 73 of the…

  • Regarding School Finance from Senator Karin Brownlee

    What is the higher priority? Should the Legislature send $143 million more to schools or preserve the form of government our forefathers carefully designed over two hundred years ago? The separation of powers doctrine is fundamental to maintaining our free society because it maintains a balance of powers with the judiciary unable to control the…