Tag: Kansas state government

  • Kansas Lags in Initiative and Referendum

    On Saturday I traveled to Oklahoma City to attend “Reforming the Reform Process: How to Restore Oklahoma’s Initiative.” What I learned is that Oklahomans are concerned with reforming a valuable citizen right that doesn’t exist at all in Kansas. The initiative process allows citizens to place a question on a ballot to be voted on…

  • Kansas School Spending May Be Cut

    As reported the Kansas Liberty story Governor’s budget office recommends cuts in K-12 spending, K-12 spending in Kansas may be cut. As the Kansas budget is under extreme pressure, if the governor suggests cutting spending, the legislature is probably very happy to go along. The irony is that since several school districts in Kansas, including…

  • United States Government Spending (dot com)

    I recently discovered usgovernmentspending.com. It seems like a great place to get data not only for the federal government, but for the states, too.

  • In Kansas, Tax Increases Loom

    As Kansas confronts a disastrous budget, the danger of tax increases is large. As reported by David Klepper in Shortfall means painful budget cuts for Kansas, “Because of declining tax revenue, Kansas faces a $1 billion deficit in next year’s budget, on top of a more than $140 million shortfall in the current budget year.”…

  • Kansas highway spending has not boosted economy

    Who isn’t in favor of good streets and highways? Don’t we need roads, highways, and bridges so that our economy can function? The problem with most studies that pump up the benefit of government spending is that they omit something very important: the cost of these projects, and who pays. A solution that I favor…

  • Wichita School Bond: 25% Might Come From Other Pocket

    One of the ways the Wichita school bond was promoted was the 25% argument. This referred to the fact that the state of Kansas would pay 25% of the bond repayment costs. USD 259, the Wichita public school district, urged Wichitans to think of this as free money. As reported in news media, the Kansas…

  • Governor orders steeper cuts in face of budget crisis

    Kansas Liberty reports this about the Kansas budget: “Kansas is headed for a financial disaster, but nobody’s sure yet exactly what to do about it.” One of the things the passage of the school bond issue in Wichita has done is to place an additional burden on the Kansas budget. Some bond issue supporters spoke…

  • Charter Schools on the Rise in Kansas City, But Not in Wichita

    Parents in Kansas City, Missouri are making widespread use of an educational option that’s not available in Wichita. As reported in today’s Kansas City Star (Charter schools on the rise in KC), about 23 percent of Kansas City schoolchildren attend charter schools.

  • Untruths about carbon and its regulation at the Wichita Eagle

    The Wichita Eagle’s recent editorial by Rhonda Holman takes a few Kansas legislators to task for statements regarding regulatory uncertainly in Kansas (No ‘regulatory uncertainty’ in Kansas, October 28, 2008 Wichita Eagle). She claims their statements “don’t reflect reality” and that their untruths are harming Kansas’ ability to bring in business.