When a legislator rails against “big government,” be on the lookout for more.
Last year, Kansas lawmakers said the formula for funding K-12 public schools was too convoluted and needed to be streamlined.
They gave themselves two years to fine tune the system, telling school districts to not only sit tight but also make do with less.
To date, no serious attempts have been made to reconfigure the finance formula, but a whole lot is being done to pile on new rules and regulations.
Such proposals include:
• Creating a new legislative panel that would have oversight as to whether a school district can either renovate or build new facilities;
• Giving more tax breaks for those wanting to send their children to private schools;
• Forcing consolidation of school districts in counties with fewer than 10,000 students — that’s Allen County — reducing the number from 286 to 132;
• Denying state funds to districts to explain school bond issues to the public;
• Reducing health insurance benefits to teachers and school administrators;
• Creating a merit-based system of pay for teachers, and,
• Forcing districts to deplete their cash balances, and, in essence, model the state’s practice of irresponsible budgeting.
ALL OF THE above work to create a bigger bureaucracy full of heavy-handed measures that limit a district’s ability to determine what works best for their students and staff.
So much for smarter government.
— Susan Lynn
