WEEK #3 2006
EDUCATION FUNDING

Information of the Post Audit study is beginning to come to light and be discussed more all of the time, so this newsletter will focus mainly on the topic of school funding. As you are aware, there was a lawsuit filed several years ago about a study that was commissioned I believe before I ever came into office. The results of that study which was called the Augenblick and Myers study was not favorable to small schools, but rather made strong suggestions toward consolidation. It also was not favorable to vo-tech training. I was alarmed when the lawsuit really started to press the legislature toward implementation of some of the study’s issues, knowing that if we gave credence to some, then others were going to gain credibility. I approached the lobbyist for small schools and asked if this seemed alarming, but was greeted with certainty that this was a good thing because, at the time, it met more money for everyone.

Now another study has come out at the request of the legislature and again, it is the small schools that are targeted. I am very alarmed this time. How many of our Supreme Court judges were educated in a small school? How many in academia understand the benefits of living in a small community and sending your kids to a small school? How many have factored in the results of consolidation on the economy in our small communities and the effect that the departure from the home community will have on the students and the families of that student? The people who were commissioned for the study by the Post Audit Committee were from New York and their study done there came out with similar results. Dump more money into the large inner city schools and penalize the small schools.

At this point, you may be asking why. It is simply because the small schools are doing a better job of educating the students. The students from small schools have a higher graduation rate. They perform better in math and science. I am not surprised by this at all. I graduated from a small school in Western Kansas and even without the encouragement from my family of ever having hope in advancing into college, I did well in my classes. My own children graduated from small schools and went on to perform very well in college. They are now successful productive individuals and I am thankful that at least three out of four have chosen to stay in Kansas to raise their families.

CLEAN FARM BILL

At last, after much delay, it looks like the bill that will allow farmers to use their own trucks to carry away refuse from their own farms will get a fair hearing. The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Transportation Committee of the House on February 1, @ 1:30 P.M. I am asking everyone that has an interest in getting this through to please help me by submitting testimony either in person or by mail. This will be a great help to the farming community. Current law does not allow a farmer to carry much of anything but farm grown commodities away from his farm unless it is for charity.

TELE-JUDGE

Thanks to a suggestion from Curtis McCauley in Emporia, we may now see a savings to JJA and SRS dollars. Mr. McCauley has pointed out to me that many dollars are spent transporting youth across the state of Kansas for court proceedings that sometimes are mere technicalities. I have suggested that they consider setting up hearings and the like whenever possible with tele-judge. It would be similar to tele-medicine where a web cast sets up televised communication across the miles.

"My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there" Charles Kettering

Oh, I am having lots of phone calls about whether I am running again and "Yes" I am. It was a pleasure to have my first pages this year too.