Please Write to Your Legislators!

School Finance Concerns

Letters to the legislators:

Please write to your legislators voicing your concerns about school finance.  It is suggested that you use some or all of the points below and add some of your own comments.  It would allow letters from individuals to be different.  You only need to construct one letter and send it to all the electronic addresses below.

1.  Ask in the letter for the legislator to strongly consider the governor’s recommendation in his State of the State speech by increasing the revenue to close the $400,000,000 deficit and to increase the base state aid per pupil by $50.    
2. The cuts that USD 415 has already made have taken opportunities to learn away from the students that struggle the most.  Examples include the reduction in the number of paraprofessionals, eliminating summer school for the students that are at risk of being retained, reduction in the Parents As Teachers program, reduction of a high school tutor, and reduction of a school counselor.
3. If the $400,000,000 deficit is closed by cuts, it is our understanding that at least half of the deficit would be cut from K-12 education.  This would be about $286 per student.  The cut to our budget made on November 30, 2009, plus the cut of $286 per student would require us to cut almost $700,000 from our budget.  A $700,000 budget cut is equivalent to the salaries of 18 teachers or 24% of our teachers.  If reductions occurred in both classified and licensed personnel, it would be equivalent to 18 classified employees and 13 teachers.  A cut of this magnitude would increase class sizes to an unacceptable level, eliminate several programs that have allowed our district to reach the standard of excellence, increase student dropouts and cause many elementary students to not receive the one-on-one support they need.  The loss of jobs in the education sector of this magnitude will only add to the economic problems.
4. Kansas can be proud of the performance of Kansas schools.  They are among the strongest in the nation.  The action you take in this legislative session will allow us to continue to provide quality education to the youth of our state or destroy the educational system that has been a source of pride to Kansas.  Your vote will determine which direction our state will take.

Letters should be sent to:

(Representatives: local and house appropriations) Steve Lukert, steve.lukert@house.ks.gov; Kevin Yoder, kevin.yoder@house.ks.gov; Ray Merrick, ray.merrick@house.ks.gov; David Crum, david.crum@house.ks.gov; Peter DeGraaf, ray.degraaf@house.ks.gov; Owen Donohoe, owen.donohoe@house.ks.gov; John Faber, john.faber@house.ks.gov; Don Hineman, don.hineman@house.ks.gov; Mitch Holmes, mitch.holmes@house.ks.gov; Kasha Kelley kasha.kelley@house.ks.gov,   Peggy Mast, peggy.mast@house.ks.gov; Joe McLeland, joe.mcleland@house.ks.gov; Marc Rhoades, marc.rhoades@house.ks.gov; Lee Tafanelli,lee.tafanelli@house.ks.gov; Jeff Whitham, jeff.whitham@house.ks.gov; Bill Feuerborn, bill.feuerborn@house.ks.gov;  Barbara Ballard, barbara.ballard@house.ks.gov; Tom Burroughs, tom.buroughs@house.ks.gov; Sydney Carlin, sydney.carlin@house.ks.gov;  Nile Dillmore, nile.dillmore@house.ks.gov; Doug Gatewood, doug.gatewood@house.ks.gov; Jerry Henry, jerry.henry@house.ks.gov; Harold Lane, harold.lane@house.ks.gov; and Jerry Williams, jerry.williams@house.ks.gov.

(Senators: local and senate ways and means) Dennis Pyle, dennis.pyle@senate.ks.gov; Jay Emler, jay.emler@senate.ks.gov; Carolyn McGinn, carolyn.mcginn@senate.ks.gov; John Vratil, john.vratil@senate.ks.gov; Dennis Apple, dennis.apple@senate.ks.gov; Ty Masterson, ty.masterson@senate.ks.gov; Vicki Schmidt, vicki.schmidt@senate.ks.gov; Lee Taddiken, lee.taddiken@senate.ks.gov; Ruth Teichman, ruth.teichman@senate.ks.gov; Dwayne Umbarger, Dwayne.umbarger@senate.ks.gov; Laura Kelly, laura.kelly@senate.ks.gov; Kelly Kultala, kelly.kultala@senate.ks.gov; and Janis Lee, Janis.lee@senate.ks.gov.