Last night Governor Sebelius delivered a State of the State address that was long on pleasantries, but short on vision. While I presume that the Governor has a policy agenda she would like to advance she was curiously shy about sharing it with the legislature. That having been said the Governor deserves credit for her candid admission of the need for reform in our Public Schools. In particular the Governor called for more aggressive auditing of local school districts to ensure proper expenditure of funds. While this is certainly a good starting point I am hopeful that we can go further in our effort to re-think the way children are educated in Kansas.

I am on record supporting some increase in funding for public schools. However, such expenditures should be linked to the concurrent implementation of real reforms that would direct more funds to classrooms, reduce the number of districts across the state, and begin to inject greater parental choice into public education. On balance Kansas schools do an admirable job of providing our children with a first rate education. But the hard facts indicate that we have too many school districts, and that a substantial number of these districts are top heavy with administration. While our teachers’ salaries consistently rank below the national average we are near the bottom among states in the percentage of education dollars actually making it to the classroom. This is unacceptable and must be addressed in the context of any plan to spend more money on our public schools.

On a separate matter I was pleased to hear that the State Senate will be taking up the Marriage Protection Constitutional Amendment latter this week. I would encourage all of you to contact your Senator and encourage them to support this important change to our Constitution. While I am confident that the Amendment will pass the House there is some dispute among supporters of the Amendment regarding the date when it should be placed on the ballot. Some favor an attempt to put it before voters this April, while others would prefer to see it on the ballot in November of 2006. While there are reasonable arguments for both dates I tend to think an issue of this importance should be placed before the voters as soon as possible. I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this issue.

As always please feel free to contact me at any time, or to drop by my office if you are in Topeka.

Lance Kinzer
State Representative
District 14
State House - Room 531-N
(785)298-7663