Month: March 2015

Bill goes to final House vote Friday morning

Wyandotte County Democrats in the Kansas House voted against a school funding block grant bill that advanced in the Kansas House on Thursday.

The Wyandotte County representatives believe that funding to public schools here will decrease and that those in favor of the bill are trying to skirt court rulings.

Instead of allocating funds per pupil, as the state has been doing for several years, the school funding formula is changed in this bill to allocate funds to districts through a block grant.

The bill went to final action on Friday morning, when it was waiting on enough legislators to show up to vote on it. According to a legislator, it was one vote shy of passing around 8:15 a.m., but the vote was being held up until the legislator arrived.

Rep. Valdenia Winn, D-34th Dist., said she voted against this bill, House substitute for Senate Bill 7, for three reasons, that it freezes funding; creates inequities and decreases transparency.

House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs, D-33rd Dist., said, “I’m gravely disappointed with the outcome of today’s debate. An entire generation of Kansas students is being thrown under the bus for the sake of the governor’s failed experiment.

“This legislation creates inequalities in schools across the state by pitting poor districts against wealthy districts and urban districts against rural districts,” Rep. Burroughs stated. “It also caps funding and forces public schools to absorb more cuts at a time when we should be investing funding in education.“

Rep. Winn stated that the bill would freeze funding for school districts.

“At a time when we should be increasing funding for education, this bill freezes funding at current levels,” Rep. Winn stated. “During Brownback’s tenure in office, schools have been systemically underfunded in Kansas, causing the court to rule late last year that the state should put at least an additional $550 million in new funds into education. This proposal not only fails to achieve that goal, it appears intent on sidestepping it altogether. “

Rep. Winn stated the bill also would create inequalities.
“All children in Kansas deserve access to a high-quality, public education,” Rep. Winn stated. “Unfortunately this bill creates winners and losers, pitting urban districts versus rural districts and poor districts versus wealthy districts. Kids in Junction City will not have access to the same resources as kids in Johnson County. That is unfair to Kansas schools and bad for the Kansas economy.”

In addition, the bill would decrease transparency, Rep. Winn stated.

“The block grant formula eliminates weightings to account for growing or shrinking enrollment, at-risk and bi-lingual students, high transportation costs, career and voc-tech programs, among others,” Rep. Winn stated. “Eliminating the existing formula and allocating funding for schools in this manner will lead to a lack of transparency and accountability in how districts spend their money and inhibit comparisons among districts.

“Of all the things state government does, I consider educating our children to be one of the most important,” Rep. Winn stated. “We have not just a constitutional responsibility, but also a moral obligation to fund public education. With the action taken by the legislature today, we have failed in that duty. “

After final action in the House Friday, the bill will move to the Senate where they are expected to concur, at which time it will move to the governor’s desk for signature. Rep. Winn is urging her constituents to contact the governor’s office at 785-368-8500 and ask him to veto the bill.

“I will continue to stand up and fight for public education in Topeka, but I need your help,” Rep. Winn stated. “Please talk to your family, your friends, and your neighbors about the importance of education to the future of our children, our state, and our economy.”