Parent Group Blasts Excessive School Budget Slash Planned in Kansas House

Kansas Families for Education says Senate bill's $33 per pupil cut balances the budget, asks why House members want to cut more SHAWNEE, Kan. - Members of the Kansas House of Representatives are poised to cut an additional $41 million from local school budgets this year, even though the state Senate has already passed a bill that balances the budget without making those cuts. Kansas Families for Education, a grass-roots parent group that supports public schools, is demanding answers from House members who appear to be determined to make enormous additional cuts in education that are clearly not needed to balance the state's budget. The state needs to cut hundreds of millions in spending to balance the budget this year. The bill passed by the Senate, SB 23, calls for $335 million in spending cuts, including more than $25 million in education cuts. The Senate bill cuts state education support by $33 per pupil. The alternative being pushed by House leaders, on the other hand, cuts only $328 million in spending. But the House bill includes $66.6 million in education cuts, or $88 per pupil. "We can't see how any legislator who claims to be a supporter of education can favor the House bill over the Senate plan," said Kathy Cook, executive director of KFE. "Every child in Kansas deserves a proper education, and in fact has a constitutional right to a proper education. There is no getting around the fact that the House bill does far more damage to Kansas children and families than the Senate's alternative." Cook said that many House leaders were among those legislators who bitterly opposed the decision by the Kansas Supreme Court in 2005 to require the state to boost education spending to meet the constitutional requirement. "The Senate bill cuts more total spending, so why do House leaders want to cut schools more and everything else in the budget less? It looks like the House plan is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to roll back the court's ruling, using the state's budget crisis as an excuse." Cook said KFE urges all Kansas legislators to support the Senate plan and will keep all of its members statewide apprised of the votes of each legislator on this critical decision. # # #

Contact your legislator and tell them to vote No on the Yoder Budget!