Today’s lead Wichita Eagle editorial complains that a Kansas public policy group’s position on school fund balances is frustrating.
It would be one thing if the findings made by the Kansas Policy Institute were false. But it has been found that these findings are true: Kansas schools have been spending down the funds in the way that KPI has said they could do.
The problem is that these facts are inconvenient to the school spending lobby and its request for ever-increasing funding for schools at the expense of taxpayers and other competing budget interests. It should be noted that this lobby is a special interest group itself, as is the teachers union, school employees, unions like SEIU that represent school employees, and school superintendents. The Kansas Policy Institute, according to its website and also my observation of its activities, advocates for “free enterprise solutions and the protection of personal freedom.” These are things that everyone benefits from. It is incorrect and wrong for the Wichita Eagle to refer to KPI as a special interest group.
For more background on this issue, see:
- Kansas House committee considers school funds
- Kansas schools have used funds to increase spending
- Balance Kansas budget without raising sales tax
- SEIU calls for higher Kansas taxes
- Wichita schools, despite claims, find cost savings
- For Kansas teachers union, fund balances are an illusion, not a solution
- Kansas fund balances disputed despite evidence of their existence, benefit
- What’s missing from the Dennis editorial on Kansas school funds