Legislators say it’s time to focus funds on other obligations

Kansas Representative Trevor Jacobs, (R) District 4, talks about the need to address the root of the problem when deciding how to handle school safety.

First of a two-part series

About 50 people attended the annual Legislative Coffee Saturday at Mercy Hospital Fort Scott, where legislators said it’s time to shift the funding focus from education to other areas.

The event, sponsored by the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce, Landmark Bank, McDonald’s and City of Fort Scott, was an opportunity for the public to address members of the Kansas State Legislature.

Attending the meeting were Representatives Adam Lusker (D), District 2, and Trevor Jacobs (R), District 4, and Senators Caryn Tyson (R), District 12, and Richard Hilderbrand (R), District 13.

The legislators’ comments were in response to the first question, posed by Moderator Mark McCoy on behalf of the Chamber, about whether funding for higher education will be returned.

Hildebrand said funding for higher education “fell off the grid” in 2017, but is back on the list this year.

“I don’t think we need more funding for higher education. We need to focus on our roads,” Jacobs said. “I think it’s a simple thought for me. No more expansion on higher education.”

Tyson also agreed the state does not need to increase funding on education. She referred to a pie chart on the state’s website, which shows 60 percent of state general fund currently goes to K-12 and higher education.

“The Speaker of the House was speaking at another meeting and he laid it out perfectly. He said we have been depleting all of other obligations for years now in order to uphold education,” Tyson said.

She said there were two major tax increases recently, one in 2015 and 2017, a retroactive income tax and the state is already collecting more than was estimated.

She named other obligations, such as prisons and the Osawatomie State Hospital, which are in disrepair and neglect. She said “well over 50 percent” of the state representatives are from larger districts. She said a coalition is being formed to place 150 additional beds in mental facilities at Wichita and 100 additional beds in Johnson County and none in Osawatomie.

“Our rural legislators need to work together. We have let that hospital fail tremendously in the last few years,” Tyson said.

She said although funding has improved, it is not where it needs to be for the Osawatomie hospital.

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