Talk about bad timing. GRAND PIANOS are not the culprit, Gov. Brownback.
Days after the Sumner Academy of Arts & Sciences purchases a grand piano it is held up as an example of the profligacy of school districts across the state.
Obviously, if a school can afford a $47,000 piano, there’s fat to cut, according to Gov. Sam Brownback.
That new piano, by the way, cost no more than a souped up F150 pickup, and likely will be expected to last as long as the one it is replacing — 40 years — all the while exposing thousands of students to beautiful music. What a bargain.
Even if our governor recognizes the purchase as an investment, he couldn’t say as much. Truth is, he’s backed himself into a corner over his disastrous tax cut policy and is now grabbing at straws as to why the state’s budget is in a world of hurt.
So he went with the piano Thursday in justifying cuts to public schools by $45 million, effective March 7.
Brownback maintains “the dramatic increase in state education funding that has occurred over the last four years is unsustainable.”
He’s referring, of course, to what were supposed to be increases to the state’s retirement program and the mandate by the Kansas Supreme Court to equalize funding between wealthy and poor districts.
No matter how many times in how many different ways Gov. Brownback claims he’s increased funding to the education of our children, the numbers don’t lie.
Per-pupil funding — the money that reaches the classroom — has steadily declined since 2009. Just six years ago, per pupil funding was $4,409. Thursday’s announcement drops it to $3,801.
The decision to cut an additional $28 million to K-12 schools will mean a loss of $81,617 for Iola, $48,672 for Humboldt, and $22,762 for Marmaton Valley.
State income tax receipts were down $713 million for 2014. Taxpayers pocketed the “relief” rather than go on a spending spree or invest in new enterprises, as Brownback had projected.
With such a pervasive unease, who could blame them?
Instead of being revitalized with increased investments from the state, vital services and programs are being slashed to the point of damaging their integrity.
In the governor’s eagerness to market Kansas as a bargain, cheap has become the unfortunate modus operandi.
— Susan Lynn
Brownback grabbing at straws in move to defund education
