More money for the public schools, more for higher education, more for the disabled, the poor and the sick and a leaner state budget were promised Wednesday night by Gov. Sam Brownback in his State of the State address.
His budget proposals will show how he hopes to achieve these conflicting goals.
The governor said his first priority will be to “grow the Kansas economy and create more jobs.”
Central to that goal will be a three-year $105 million University Economic Growth initiative focused on “key economic sectors such as aviation, cancer research, animal health and engineering.” Half of that money will be provided by the universities themselves with “private sector or reprogrammed funds.”
Results can be expected. The University of Kansas Medical Center is dedicated to becoming a leader in cancer research and treatment. Jobs will be created as that goal is pursued. Thanks to the federal government, Kansas State University was chosen to be the nation’s animal health center. As construction and staffing continue, thousands of jobs will be created there and the need for state funding will be modest. Wichita State University long has been providing specialized education and training in aviation engineering and development. More state funding of that critically important work will be put to good use.
Kansas educators were doubtless heartened by Gov. Brownback’s promises. They will wait for his budget to shout hurrah. For the promise to reduce state spending by three-quarters of a billion dollars a year but to increase appropriations for education across the board seems hard to keep. Education now consumes more than 65 percent of the state budget.
One way to achieve both goals would be to shift some of the cost of K-12 education to local taxpayers. Lawmakers and others in Johnson County, for example, long have called for the state to lift the ceiling on the local option budget so that they could spend more on their own schools without penalty. The consequence would be to give rich school districts the opportunity to provide a superior education to their youngsters — and to send school funding back to the courts in a flash.
Perhaps with more litigation over school funding in view, Gov. Brownback asked the legislators to define what “a suitable education” is and take that job away from the Kansas Supreme Court.
But it is doubtful that the justices will step aside and allow the Legislature to usurp its function of constitutional interpretation. (On the face of it, the place to go for a definition of a suitable education would be to educators, rather than politicians or justices.)
GOV. BROWNBACK laid out five measurable goals “to help push our state forward:”
— To increase net personal income.
— To increase private sector employment.
— To increase the percentage of 4th-graders who can read at grade level.
— To increase the percentage of high school graduates who are college- or career-ready.
— To decrease the percentage of Kansas children who live in poverty.
All five are reasonable, achievable and desirable goals for the state’s 46th governor to adopt. He should have the full support of the Legislature and the people of Kansas as his regime moves from words to work.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
