Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kansas legislature

  • Moving Kansas schools from monopoly to free choice

    Paul Soutar of the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy has released a report that tells how Kansas could get better value for the money the state spends on K-12 education. Charter schools and school choice programs could — if not for opposition from the existing public school lobby and teachers unions — provide flexibility…

  • Oklahoma tinkers with petition law; Kansas has none

    Sometimes we in Kansas like to poke fun at our neighbors to the south in Oklahoma. I’m sure they do the same to us. But one way in which Oklahoma has Kansas beat is in Oklahoma citizens’ ability to petition their government through the process of initiative and referendum. It’s not possible to do this…

  • Kansas school spending lobby pot calls kettle black

    After the 2009 Kansas Legislature ended its session in May (notwithstanding the formal closing in June), the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union) produced a document wrapping up the session and setting the stage for the future. Kansans need to be aware of the agenda of this organization and its allied school spending…

  • $29 cut marks end of Kansas school spending rise

    Paul Soutar of the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy reports on the rapid rise in Kansas school spending, and what may be in store for the future.

  • Kansas historic tax credits should end

    The Wichita Business Journal reports that without historic tax credits, some redevelopment projects might stop. In other words — the Business Journal isn’t quite so blunt — if taxpayers don’t give developers money, some of their projects might not be economically feasible. Or so the developers say.

  • Budget battles in Topeka

    The following analysis by Flint Hills Center for Public Policy Fellow Jonathan Williams provides a useful summary of the past legislative session in Kansas regarding the budget. Now that lawmakers have left Topeka after adjourning the 2009 legislative session, we have some time to reflect on their actions.

  • Emporia’s Jim Barnett will run for Congress

    Jim Barnett, a physician and Republican member of the Kansas Senate from Emporia, will join the field seeking the nomination for United States Congress from the first district of Kansas. Barnett ran for Kansas governor in 2006 against Kathleen Sebelius. His running mate was Kansas Senator Susan Wagle of Wichita. But when Wagle — a…

  • Update on 2009 Kansas legislature

    Here’s a summary of the 2009 Kansas legislative session prepared for Sedgwick County Commissioners by the county’s lobbyist.

  • 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…