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Kansas education lobby poses speculative information to influence legislators Despite adding more than 5400 positions and billions in 5 years, Kansas schools paint a grim picture for lawmakers The information below was based on an article researched and published by Kansas Liberty in May 2010
School funding lobbyists applaud tax-increase candidates State House Representatives who voted in favor of the tax increase, and in favor of the over-spending budget can expect to receive a campaign plush with money from school funding lobbying groups such as the Kansas National Education Association in the upcoming 2010 election. In its May “Under the Dome” report, the KNEA published the list of those who supported the budget and the tax increase and referred to the tax-and-spend coalition as “Kansas legislators who will put community and quality of life ahead of blind obedience to the anti-everything crowd.” The “anti-everything crowd” refers to the group of conservatives in the House and Senate which tried to balance the budget without increasing the tax burden on Kansas residents. “This session gave us a good look at which legislators will stand up for Kansas communities and which ones are only interested in shrinking the services that we all depend on,” the KNEA report said. “The anti-government crowd was held at bay this year but they will be back next year and they plan to make themselves known in the elections of 2010 and 2012.”
While the House was debating whether or not to adopt the one-cent sales tax increase, Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, questioned why school-funding lobbyists, such as the KNEA, automatically attached the title of “school supporter” to legislators who would vote for a tax increase. Huebert challenged legislators to take the schools’ claims that a tax increase was necessary to maintain quality education at more than just face value. “I wanted to motivate legislators to get out of their comfort zone and think about what we can do differently to improve schools with current resources instead of just asking for more money,” Huebert told Kansas Liberty. According to the Kansas Legislative Research Department, the budget passed by the Kansas Legislature increases funds to the Department of Education $133.4 million above what was allocated in fiscal year 2010. In order to fund K-12 at a level considered “appropriate” by Gov. Mark Parkinson, and the "tax-and-spend coalition," the Legislature passed a tax increase that will cost Kansans well over a billion dollars in the next five years. While school funding is not the only “vital service” supporters of the tax increase wanted to protect from cuts, it was the driving force behind the call for a tax increase. The approved FY 2011 budget sends $2.981 billion worth of state taxpayer dollars from the state general fund to the Department of Education. When accounting for all funds, which includes the state general fund, agency fee funds, and federal funds, Kansas schools are slated to receive $3.709 billion in FY 2011. Huebert reminded legislators that school lobbyists regularly used scare tactics to paint an outlook for Kansas schools that may be more grim than reality. For example, Huebert pointed out that the Kansas Department of Education cited that 3,701 positions were eliminated due to a lack of funding in the 2009-2010 school year. This number was based off of a survey filled out by school districts and was used as evidence that the Legislature needed to hike up school funding. Huebert said he found the number hard to swallow so he asked the Kansas Legislative Research Department to examine whether or not the number was accurate. “I decided to do what most people won’t do,” Huebert told Kansas Liberty. “I challenged them.” The KLRD found that since the 2008-2009 school year, 875 personnel positions had been eliminated. Also since 2005, school districts had experienced a net increase of 5,467 personnel positions. Huebert also questioned why schools asked the state to increase K-12 funding by increasing taxes, during the same time period in which schools declined to participate in the application process for receiving federal grant money.
The Kansas NEA drops out of federal grant program in favor of raising Kansans’ taxes to an all-time high In April, the Kansas State Board of Education voted 9-0 to drop out of the federal “Race to the Top” $4.35 billion competitive grant program. Kansas was cut in the first round of competition after ranking 29th out of the 41 participants, but Kansas was set to re-submit a proposal in June for the second round of competition. In the Race to the Top technical review report of Kansas’ proposal, the reviewers found that altering the school finance formula, due to the Montoy decision, did not appear to have impacted the ability to increase student The reviewer commented, “...the state’s school funding formula was reformed in 2005, but there is no evidence that this was related to, or resulted in increasing student achievement or graduation rates, narrowed achievement gaps, or resulted in other important outcomes.” While legislators, like Huebert, who supported balancing the budget without a tax increase will be targeted by school lobbyists as not supporting children and schools, they will be promoted by other organizations for being Chair of the House Taxation Committee, Rep. Richard Carlson, R-St. Marys, said he believed the general public would be supportive of the legislators who worked to trim spending and to protect Kansans from more taxes in the upcoming elections. “I think by in-large, the public believes we cannot keep spending more and more and taking it out of the taxpayers’ pockets,” Carlson told Kansas Liberty. “I think there is a general mood in the country to vote for more Carlson opposed the tax increase, the budget crafted by the coalition of left-wing Republicans and Democrats, and supported the budget put forth by the House Appropriations Committee which would have balanced the budget without a tax increase. The House Appropriations budget was considered in the House first, but was voted down by the tax-and-spend coalition. “I realize that schools have their financial challenges but they still had budgeted for more than what they had spent the year before,” Carlson said. “I don’t believe we were at a critical point nor do I believe the children’s education was going to be harmed under the first budget the House came up with.”
Resources: Kansans exposed to tax hike starting July 1 Kansas technical review on Race to the Top May 14 Under the Dome report
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