Tag: Kansas

Rep. Davids calls for increase in refining capacity to lower gas prices

U.S> Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., joined Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia in calling on President Biden to help reopen recently idled oil refineries.

This would increase refinery capacity temporarily and lower the cost of gas without sacrificing long-term clean energy production goals, according to Rep. Davids.

In addition to pushing this immediate action, Rep. Davids has repeatedly urged the President and Congressional leadership to move forward on long-term energy and inflation solutions, including fixing our supply chains, making more goods in America, and investing in our clean energy economy.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, domestic refining capacity is down to 17.9 million barrels per day, almost as low as it was in 2010.

At the same time, global refining capacity has declined by 3 million barrels per day, even as demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

This shortage of oil refining capacity is the result of an unprecedented wave of refinery closures as demand for fuel plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic—but many refineries could come back online quickly with the right assistance.

Rep. Davids and her colleagues urged the President to take action in a new resolution, stating: “in order to ensure sufficient refining capacity to reduce fuel prices and prevent fuel shortages in the near term, the President should use authorities granted him by the Defense Production Act of 1950 to provide targeted technical and financial assistance to restart certain idled refineries for a limited time.”

The resolution’s focus on a short-term increase in capacity is to address the current price spike facing consumers while also avoiding long-term impacts on the climate, noting that “restarting idled American oil refineries for a limited time could reduce gas prices and cool inflationary pressures without endangering our climate goals.”

Rep. Davids has been focused on lowering costs for Kansans, including gas prices:
• Last week, she successfully pushed the IRS to increase a tax break for small business owners and self-employed folks who rely on a vehicle for their business.
• She voted to crack down on price gouging by oil and gas companies, who have made record profits this year, despite rising gas prices.
• She introduced legislation to suspend the federal gas tax through the end of the year, saving Kansans 18 cents per gallon at a time when gas prices are reaching new highs.
• After voting for bipartisan sanctions against Russian oil, she called on President Biden to take immediate action to protect American consumers from uncertainty and rising prices, including by temporarily suspending the federal gas tax.
• Following Rep. Davids’ calls to take action on rising gas prices last fall, President Biden released 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He has now authorized the largest release in history: 1 million barrels a day for six months.
• Rep. Davids remains committed to long-term energy and inflation solutions, releasing an inflation action plan last week with the New Democrat Coalition that’s been called Congress’s “best inflation plan yet.”

  • Story from Rep. Davids’ office

‘Death by 1,000 cuts’: Some Kansas teachers demoralized by current environment

by Margaret Mellott, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Caught in a political crossfire and exhausted from the pandemic, Kansas teachers are putting down their books and leaving the profession.

In a survey from the National Education Association, 55% of teachers indicated they were ready to leave the classroom. As of April 12, there were 1,381 teacher vacancies in Kansas, according to the Kansas State Board of Education, and this number is expected to rise.

A teacher of 27 years, Jeff Plinsky, has seen the steady decline of those entering the field. While there have been a multitude of reasons for this, Plinsky said, it started when former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration focused on an efficiency model to cut public school spending while increasing teacher workloads.

“The best way to describe it is sort of the death by 1,000 cuts,” said Plinsky, outgoing vice president of the Lawrence Education Association and a teacher at Lawrence High School. “There are a multitude of things that have hit teachers really over the last decade and perhaps even longer.”

These issues became exacerbated after March 2020, when teachers had to adapt to virtual learning. Many teachers, though, weren’t extensively taught how to virtually teach, and they weren’t ready for the emotional toll of not being able to see their students.

“It was really hard because we couldn’t get a hold of some of those kids,” said Jessica Popescu, a Missouri teacher who left the teaching profession in May after nine years. “So you just kind of had to watch them sink and somehow get over it. That’s hard, especially if you care about your students.”

A 2013 graduate of Kansas State University, Popescu was recently hired as a student recruitment coordinator at the Research College of Nursing in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I got really tired of doing a lot of things that, one, I didn’t believe in,” Popescu said. “Or, two, that are just done to kind of check the box. As teachers, we’re always asking for more money, but then it felt like a lot of what we do isn’t taken seriously. I wanted to be taken seriously as an educator. I wanted to be seen as a professional.”

With just six years left before retirement, Plinsky said if he could retire tomorrow, he would.

“(I’d be just as happy at) some minimum wage job,” Plinsky said. “People don’t yell at you there about what a terrible human I am and what awful things I’m trying to do to their children while my colleagues are sheltering children’s bodies from flying bullets that no one seems to be able to stop.”

Janet Waugh, who represents northeast Kansas in the 1st District on the Kansas State Board of Education, said things did not get better for teachers once students were back in the classroom. Not only did they have to catch students up on their studies, teachers had other factors to deal with.

“Misinformation is one of the biggest and most dangerous things that we have that people are upset about,” Waugh said. “It’s sort of like (critical race theory), which is not in our standards. To my knowledge, there’s not a district teacher teaching it.”

“Parents were upset. The Legislature was upset,” Waugh added. “So many people were criticizing the teachers, that the teachers — first of all, they’re totally exhausted. They’re drained. The second thing is the way they’re treated. It’s just sad.”

Still, for many teachers, the joy in their job lies with their students, Waugh said.

“I believe teachers see this as a calling,” Waugh said. “They don’t see this as a job. They can make more money (elsewhere). … They love kids. They love to teach.”

Plinsky said new teachers need to be prepared for the political currents that come at them.

“(New teachers) need to make sure that they have a financial and psychological support network around them,” Plinsky said. “The blow, after body blow, after body blow that they take in education — if they don’t have that kind of support, they won’t survive.”

Joan Brewer, dean of the Teachers College at Emporia State University, said giving the power back to teachers is crucial.

“Listening to teachers, instead of just telling them, ‘This is what you have to do or what you need to do,’ ” Brewer said. “I think a big key with the Legislature is just really investing in teachers and letting them, in many ways, lead the way.”

To improve the system though, some believe it must first collapse before significant changes can be made.

“I don’t think we’ve hit the peak yet,” Popescu said. “I think you’re seeing it get worse and worse and worse. And I don’t know what’s going to tip it over the edge, but we haven’t hit that yet.”

Echoing Popescu’s sentiment, Plinsky said that though there are people doing their best, he has no confidence that those in power in Kansas are interested in preserving quality education.

“Maybe,” Plinsky said, “the whole thing has to collapse in a heap of ruins before the folks in power decide maybe they ought to fix it.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/06/16/death-by-1000-cuts-kansas-teachers-demoralized-by-current-environment/

More Kansas families relying on food pantries, study shows, as SNAP participation declines

by Lily O’Shea Becker, Kansas Reflector

Fifty-two percent of Kansas food pantries reported serving more clients in 2021 than 2020, according to a new study from the University of Missouri.

This trend is nationwide, as food pantries are experiencing an increased need in food assistance because of inflation and lingering effects of the pandemic. In Kansas, the situation could soon get worse.

In April, the Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of House Bill 2448, which will require adults without dependents to complete an employment and training program in order to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assistance, formerly known as food stamps, starting July 1. The law will only apply to those ages 18 through 49 who work fewer than 30 hours a week.

“This new study that just came out actually shows that people are working, and that at least one person in the home was working, and it’s really difficult,” said Joanna Sebelien, chief resource officer of Harvesters. “And many of them had full time jobs as well. And, yeah, the amount of money they’re making is basically below the poverty level.”

Harvesters is a food bank that serves 26 counties in northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. The organization testified in opposition to HB2448.

SNAP benefits are available to households whose incomes meet or are below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. According to the study, 79% of Kansas households are eligible for SNAP based on their income, but only 31% of food bank clientele households have used the food assistance program within the previous year.

Harvesters attributes the lack of SNAP participation to state policy barriers, such as HB2448 and a series of bills passed in 2015 and 2016 called the HOPE Act. Between 2015 and 2020, SNAP enrollment dropped approximately 25%.

“The pandemic did bring more hunger and hardship to Kansans,” said Haley Kottler, the anti-hunger campaign director for Kansas Appleseed. “And so we really have seen food insecurity heightened over the past couple of years. But what I do want to say is programs like SNAP are there to help mitigate this. And so when the pandemic began, the food insecurity projections looked a lot higher than they actually ended up being because of programs like SNAP and Child Nutrition Programs.”

Seventy percent of Kansas food pantries reported serving more clients affected by COVID-19 in 2021 compared with 2020, the University of Missouri study shows.

Food insecurity in Kansas rose from 12.1% to 14.1% in 2020, according to Feeding America. As the biggest food assistance program in the country, the Kansas SNAP program alone has triggered approximately $164 million in economic activity since the beginning of the pandemic. As food insecurity grew, SNAP participation declined, according to Harvesters.

But enough Kansas legislators supported HB2448, model legislation brought to Kansas via an out-of-state lobbying organization, to override Kelly’s veto.

“What is the central solution to poverty? It’s work. Work is not a punishment, it’s a blessing,” said Rep. Susan Humphries, a Wichita Republican, as she argued in favor of the bill. “Helping someone move to a place of self-sufficiency is a gift to them. Work, not money, is a fundamental source of dignity, and getting that training that will move them there is a process to hope and self-respect.”

According to the University of Missouri study, of the Kansas households that utilize food banks, 60% have at least one working adult, 34% have at least one person who is working full-time, and 47% make $15,000 or less per year. Forty-one percent of these households choose between paying for food or medicine and medical care within the last year, and 49% choose between paying for food and utilities.

“I think (the University of Missouri study) shows that the people who are food insecure are people that you might not think, so many people think it might be an urban problem, or it’s an ethnic problem, but it’s not,” Sebelien said. “I mean, it shows we serve a very diverse group of people — Caucasians, Hispanics, African Americans, and other groups as well. And, you know, children and seniors.”

Of the food bank clients who were surveyed, 62% identify as white, 13% identify as African American, and 18% identify as Hispanic, according to the University of Missouri study. People of color experience higher rates of food insecurity. Families living in Indigenous communities are two times more likely to experience food insecurity compared with their counterparts, according to Harvesters. Nine percent of clients reside in temporary housing or are houseless.

“I cannot support a bill that makes it more difficult for Kansans to feed themselves, particularly when prices at the grocery store are increasing,” said Rep. Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. “Thirty thousand hardworking Kansans will be affected by this, including families and those with children. I will not vote for a policy that makes it harder for children to grow and thrive in Kansas.”

According to Feeding America, one in eight Kansans face hunger, and one in six children in Kansas face hunger. The reality is more stark in regions like southeast Kansas, where one in four children are food insecure.

On Wednesday, the governor sent a letter to Congress requesting they extend the federal Child Nutrition Waivers, which were put in place at the beginning of the pandemic to guarantee students access to free meals during the school year and summer. These waivers have provided meals to 30 million students across the country. The waivers are due to expire on June 30, and if they are not extended, approximately 10 million students will be affected.

Food insecurity is not solely experienced by families. The University of Kansas Campus Cupboard is a food pantry that aims to reduce food insecurity among KU’s campus community. According to the study, 82% of food pantry clients in Kansas have a high school degree or higher level of education.

While the pantry is available to students, faculty, staff and affiliates, the pantry estimates the majority of its clients are students.

“This past academic year, we had over 3,000 visits to the Campus Cupboard,” said Sarah Ross, who oversees the daily operations of the Campus Cupboard. “I think a large part of that is because of the pandemic and inflation happening.”

SNAP eligibility rules differ for students in higher education compared to the general population. SNAP eligibility for higher education students expanded after The Consolidated Appropriations Act went into effect on Jan. 16, 2021, and is in effect until the end of the public health emergency is declared.

Kottler said Kansas Appleseed worked hard to encourage passage of House Bill 2215 and House Bill 2525. HB2215 would have reversed the ban on food assistance for Kansans with more than one drug felony. HB2525 would have reversed the ban on food assistance for Kansans who don’t cooperate with child support services. Neither bill passed this year.

To help Kansans determine their SNAP eligibility and navigate the Kansas SNAP application process, Harvesters established a SNAP Outreach program.

HB2448 goes into effect on July 1. Beginning in January, Kansans can expect some economic relief concerning food with House Bill 2106, which will phase out the Kansas sales tax on groceries. Kansas’ sales tax on groceries is the second highest in the country, at 6.5%.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/06/09/more-kansas-families-relying-on-food-pantries-study-shows-as-snap-participation-declines/