The Issues
Education
Since 2008 the school districts of Southwest Kansas have endured wave after wave of budget cuts. The fat has been trimmed, and now districts are beginning to look at reducing core functions just to keep the lights on. The 39th Senate District has 19 school districts, each with their own unique character and needs. Those districts deserve to be funded in a way that embraces that uniqueness, not in the one-size fits all manner that the block grants created, and definitely not with a formula that puts districts’
extra-curricular activities in jeopardy. Education is the only function of government protected by the state’s constitution, and funding for that education should focus on the whole child. It is past time for those of us in the legislature to go to work to create a new formula that gives teachers and students the resources they need to be successful throughout their entire lives.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure, such as bridges and highways are the economic gateways of Southwest Kansas, and everyone deserves to enjoy safe, well-maintained roads. Unfortunately, because of the poor fiscal management in Topeka, more than $1.4 billion has been taken from the building and maintenance of the state’s infrastructure. I believe it is time to stop robbing the Bank of KDOT before one of the area’s key economic advantages, good, safe infrastructure, becomes damaged beyond repair.
Seniors
The record long 2015 Legislative session resulted in the largest tax increase in state history. I voted against this tax hike partly because of the damage it will do to Southwest Kansas’ senior citizens. As a result of the tax increase, those Southwest Kansans on a fixed-income, our seniors, are forced to pay the highest sales tax on food in the country. We cannot continue to pay for an unbalanced tax system on the backs of our seniors, and I will continue to work tirelessly to make sure that we don’t.
Protecting the People
Southwest Kansans deserve to be able to enjoy their communities in safety and comfort. I believe that the state of Kansas should be working to help make those communities safer. Over the last decade the State Highway Patrol has had to deal with chronic staff shortages, and because of funding shortages and low pay the Department of Corrections experiences worrisome rates of staff turnover every year. This is unacceptable on every level. I will continue to do everything in my power as a member of the state legislature to put an end to unconscionable deficiencies in one of the state’s core functions, protecting its people.
Children
I believe that the state’s most vulnerable people, children, deserve to be given every chance to succeed, and that means protecting valuable programs like Head Start and the Kansas Early Childhood Block Grant from
short-sighted budget gimmicks like selling the state’s tobacco settlement to Wall Street investors. Children are the future of Kansas, and we as a state should be doing everything we can to ensure that each and every child, regardless of their background, is given the tools to succeed.
Healthcare
For many Southwest Kansas communities, the local hospital is often not just the only provider of healthcare in the area, but also the best provider of good, well-paying jobs. The state of Kansas has left hundreds of millions of federal dollars on the table, despite the people of Kansas providing much of that money ourselves with our tax dollars, and our local hospitals are suffering. We must do everything we can to keep the hospitals in those communities, because if they go away, they will not come back.