Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said he would continue his plan to reduce state income taxes in the “State of the State” address to the Kansas House of Representative tonight.
He called for a rewriting of the state’s school finance formula, saying that the majority of the projected shortfall Kansas faces is from the increase in K-12 spending since fiscal year 2014. He is scheduled to release a detailed budget on Friday.
To sustained applause, Brownback said it was time for a new school finance formula, and said the Legislature should fund school districts directly these two years, with dollars to be spent in the classrooms, while repealing the existing formula and working on a new formula.
Brownback presented an optimistic view, saying that “Kansas is on the rise and the state of our state is strong.” He also made references to the family budget as being more important than the state budget, and also emphasized family values, saying that Kansas was anti-abortion and would not go back.
He also said he plans to implement an urban opportunity zone to encourage economic growth in areas such as Kansas City, Kan., Wichita and Topeka.
In a Democratic response, Senate Democratic leader Anthony Hensley was strongly critical of the governor’s economic programs, which he termed a failed experiment. He claimed the governor had deliberately misled the people.
“The state of our state is bad,” Hensley said.
He said that Kansas experienced a $600 million loss of revenue during the recent recession from 2007 to 2009, but that last year the state’s revenue dropped by $700 million due to Brownback’s “reckless economic experiment.” He added the state has been downgraded by two credit rating agencies.
Hensley said it was time for the governor to admit his economic experiment was a failure, that the governor needs to end it and face the budget crisis he created now.
Hensley said the governor’s statement that the school finance formula needed to be restructured was another way of saying that they want to pass the buck to local districts to pay more for the schools.
He said the governor and Legislature must change course.