Education Funding in Kansas

Cuts in funding of Kansas public schools and universities are devastating the excellence that has been the standard for decades. Reduced state funding has occurred because of reduced revenues as a result of the 2007-08 Recession. The reduction of tax rates carried out by conservatives over the past decade or more has compounded the reduction in revenues. Resistance to increasing income taxes (and thus revenue) in order to provide adequate funding for education has been expressed as “job-killing”, if done during a recession. Well, although the recovery is not over, the recession is over. Sales tax was increased temporarily in 2010 to avoid drastic cuts in educational funding. Sales tax kills sales, which in turn kills jobs. But never mind that, because the sales tax increase did not hurt the “job creators” like it did the folks who are “job fillers”. As soon as the temporary sales tax increase expires, income taxes should be raised to the extent required to fund fully the educational needs of the state. Property taxes could also stand a modest increase to fund educational needs that localities want to enhance education above minimum state standards.

In addition to providing adequate revenue, expenditures by school districts and universities should be closely monitored to insure efficient and economical operation. Particularly, district central office and higher education administration staffing and non-instructional activities such as community relations, athletics, transportation, food service and building maintenance should be scrutinized closely for any possible cost-savings. Structural reorganization of school districts and institutions of higher education should be actively pursued to eliminate duplication of services and excessive overhead. Consolidation of school districts and duplicated small enrollment major programs are examples of specific cost-saving targets. I support a stronger role for the Department of Education and Regents in oversight and assistance to educators to achieve monetary savings. Particularly troubling is the apparent duplication of the K-11 on-line instruction program that diverts scarce resources to home-schooling. Distance-learning programs that increase educational resources available to sparsely populated areas should be expanded for cost-savings.