Governor wants KS to fit his needs, not ours

Kansas is on track to becoming a third-world country.
Its leaders are usurping powers while leaving the masses with fewer services.
In his state address Thursday night, Gov. Sam Brownback said the state’s schools are bankrupting state coffers, that programs for the poor are too generous, and that he should have the power to appoint Supreme Court justices.
That pretty much covers everything needed for a dictatorship, if legislators grant the governor and his cronies such privileges.

GOV. BROWNBACK has turned government on its head because he has the formula backward.
The needs of a people should shape its budget.
Instead, Brownback is determined to make our needs fits into a budget that has been severely reduced because of his plan to eliminate the state income tax. If allowed to proceed, this plan is expected to reduce revenue by $5 billion in five years’ time.
That we are not fitting into his idea of a budget is mainly the fault of our public schools, he said.
“The majority of the shortfall we face is due to increases in K-12 spending since 2014,” Gov. Brownback said.
Pardon the truth, governor, but incoming revenues are below budget by more than $700 million for the next two years.
In complete refusal to heed recommendations to increase funding to K-12 education, Brownback recommended Friday morning not only to freeze current funding but also to increase the commitment to the KPERS, the state’s retirement program, out of the education budget. A double whammy.
Brownback also wants legislators to scrap how schools are currently funded — including the disparities between students and districts — and instead lump all money for schools into a pool from which districts will receive funds.
Brownback did not say how such funds are to be distributed. Are legislators to duke it out?
Such ambiguity will do wonders for our credit ratings.

WITH SUCH “leadership,” the burden of managing state affairs will be even greater for our legislators.
It is imperative Rep. Kent Thompson and Sen. Caryn Tyson stand up for our schools, our justice system, and our poor.
If they keep the needs of constituents as their priority, the path is clear, but by no means easier.