Emails to Brownback about schools reveal Kansans’ ideas, frustrations
A substitute teacher suggested dropping sports from schools. Someone else floated a sales tax for education. Others called on Gov. Sam Brownback to let go of his signature tax policy.
Kansans made their thoughts on education and other topics clear in response to Brownback’s call for input on school finance. With long, poignant messages as well as terse, biting dispatches, a multitude of ideas and attitudes poured forth.
The governor issued his call in August, and accepted input through November to a special email address. On Friday, the governor’s office opened the emails to inspection.
The input-gathering came ahead of a legislative session where lawmakers are looking to craft a new school finance formula. The Legislature scrapped the state’s longtime formula in 2015 in favor of a temporary block grant system that expires after this year.
The Kansas Supreme Court is also expected to rule in the coming weeks on the adequacy of education funding. Many expect the court’s ruling to require additional funding.
The exact number of emails sent to the governor’s office wasn’t known, but easily included hundreds of pages. Sitting among piles in a conference room in the governor’s office suite, reporters riffed through the papers.
While the messages included carefully-crafted bullet point plans from school districts and education associations, much of the most powerful material consisted of reflections from parents and teachers.
Karla Wheeler, a mother of three and a substitute teacher for 10 years, suggested moving sports outside the school system. Parents who want their children to play sports today have several avenues — club sports, community outlets and the like.
“Let the developers and business community provide the sport venues for our kids. It’s not the state’s responsibility,” she wrote. “The drain financially is enormous (and) we are transporting, insuring, staffing and managing our athletes in the schools.”
Steve Webster, of Great Bend, raised the possibility of a sales tax to fund education. Currently, the property tax is the primary revenue source associated with education.
A one-cent sales tax would include everyone in helping pay for education, Webster wrote.
“In my opinion education is an investment in our state that everyone benefits from. It’s a cost that I do not mind paying my fair share,” Webster wrote. “P.S. What was wrong with the old per pupil formula? It satisfied the courts and it was easy to understand.”
Michele Brewer in Overland Park took a different approach, and urged Brownback to raise property taxes. She also asked the governor to review tax breaks for businesses and make them pay their fair share.
“Fully fund the schools,” Brewer wrote. “Raise taxes for homeowners and businesses.”
Among the messages were more than 100 signed “Kill Common Core” petitions from the Young America’s Foundation calling Common Core an attempt to establish permanent government curriculum run by “anti-freedom, big government bureaucrats.”
Jerry Brown, of Salina, told Brownback to go back to the original funding formula. Lawmakers passed it in the early 90s. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, Brown said.
Brownback should fund the old formula by reversing the 2012 tax cuts, which cut income tax rates and eliminated taxes on pass-through business income.
“This would not only fund our K-12 schools but our roads and bridges, help with our higher ed, and our health care system. It would also begin to restore our faith in Kansas as a place that works to help its people,” Brown wrote.
Elizabeth Sands wrote that the old formula wasn’t a perfect system, but asked Brownback to go back to per pupil funding. She said she doesn’t want lawsuits over it, and it worked much better than the block grants.
Sands also asked for full-day kindergarten, and said she currently pays $300 a month for all-day kindergarten.
“I know this is not what our governor wants to hear, but we need to do away with his tax cuts. Everyone, including businesses should have to pay taxes,” Sands wrote. “If there is more money to work with, it would make this problem much easier to solve.”
Others were not as polite.
Tucker Johnston, who identified himself as a concerned Kansan, referenced Brownback’s “tax cut fiasco” as a disaster. “Totally preventable,” he added.
“You want ideas on how to take care of the school funding problem?” Johnston asked. “Step down and let a QUALIFIED person be governor!”
Michael Corn said the fix was easy: Make sure the existing formula is adequately funded each year, stop giving tax breaks to “cronies” and develop a fair and equitable tax plan. He also called on Brownback to stop playing games.
A “concerned voter” who identified only as Josie expressed clear disgust for the governor.
“Do you want to ensure that the future of Kansas is undereducated so you and your buddies continue to be voted into office? You are quite simply the lowest scum of the earth,” Josie wrote.
The Kansas Supreme Court previously ruled school funding inequitable. That led Brownback to call a special legislative session earlier this year where lawmakers passed a fix.
Estimates range upward of $800 million in additional funding that may be needed to satisfy the court in the coming adequacy ruling. With a $350 million budget shortfall in the current fiscal year and more than $580 million in previously anticipated revenue now expected not to materialize in the following year, the task facing lawmakers and Brownback appears quite difficult.
In a statement, Brownback said educators, parents and students had submitted quality proposals.
“Input crossed the political spectrum bringing forth ideas like educational choice, putting more money in the classroom, rewarding teachers for excellent work, additional funding streams, innovative programs like Kansas Reading Roadmap, and greater emphasis on early childhood education,” Brownback said.
“I look forward to working with legislators to construct a new funding system that emphasizes educational outcomes, student achievement, and above all else, puts Kansas students first.”
