Dear Friends and
Family,
Despite the slow start to
the session, the legislature is quickly making
up lost ground. We have debated issues
ranging from the 2009 Budget, Annexation, school
funding and health care availability. As
we debate and examine these extremely important
issues in one of our state's most difficult
times, I am constantly reminded of the honor and
duty I have representing Northeast Johnson
County.
Again, I thank you for the
opportunity to represent you, and I hope the
following information is helpful for you.
Please don't hesitate to contact me with any
issues that may come up.
Representative Mike
Slattery
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House Approves
Guantanamo Resolution
This week the House approved a joint
resolution to voice opposition to placing
war/terrorist detainees from Gitmo at Fort
Leavenworth. Specifically, the Resolution
outlines reasons why the Leavenworth community
is not appropriate for this serious duty.
If this becomes a mission of the
Fort, our capable military will do it; but the
damage to the international officer program and,
as a result, international relations, and the
negative impact upon the Command and General
Staff College mission to educate our military
leaders and craft the military strategies for
our nation will be a price paid for such a
decision. We want the President, Vice
President, our Congressional delegation and our
Governor to know the particular problems with
placing this mission in our state.
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Across the Board Cuts
and the Impact on Kansas
Schools
Dale Dennis, Assistant Commissioner of
Education and the state's chief expert on school
finance, spoke to the Democratic members and
answered questions from the caucus on
Thursday. Dennis concentrated on the
effects of the 3.4% across the board cuts
proposed by Republican Senators and what that
would mean for individual school districts.
Dennis told the caucus that the 3.4% cut
would actually mean a much larger cut for
schools in the last 5 months of the fiscal
year. With about 80% of school district
budgets tied up in contractual obligations -
many of which are for classroom teachers -
districts will be hard pressed to implement the
cuts as proposed. Field trips for
students, cleaning classrooms, routine
maintenance, textbooks, classroom materials,
athletic programs, and other student-related
expenses will be on the chopping block for this
year if the cuts would have gone through as
proposed. Though it looks as if school
districts have been saved for this fiscal year,
we must continue this discussion in an effort to
protect education in FY 2010.
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Department of Commerce
Helps Minority and Women Owned
Businesses
Last June, Governor Kathleen Sebelius
signed an executive order to support Kansas
small, minority and women-owned
businesses. Led by Rep. Annie Tietze and a
coalition of Kansas small business/minority and
women business organizations, many Kansas
businesses can now take advantage of contracting
and subcontracting opportunities from those in
the private and public sectors committed to the
inclusion of minority and women-owned
businesses.
Specifically, the
executive order expanded the current Kansas
Statewide Certification Program, where women and
minority businesses can now obtain a Minority
Business Enterprise (MBE) or a Woman Business
Enterprise (WBE) Certification. With the
creation of the MBE/WBE Certification Program,
the personal net worth cap was eliminated, which
allows more minority and women-owned businesses
an opportunity to obtain certification and in
turn create additional opportunities for them to
compete in the procurement and contracting arena
where goals have been established for minority
and women-owned businesses.
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Higher Education
Committee to Attract Out-of-State
Students
The House Higher Education committee was
again very busy this week. On Tuesday we heard
testimony from a panel of University of Kansas
officials, representing the Kansas Board of
Regents Universities. They came as
proponents of House Bill 2007, which would grant
the Board of Regents the ability to offer
discounts or waivers to out-of- state legacy
high school graduates. Currently, all
neighboring states- and many in the region- have
incorporated "legacy" programs. For
example in Iowa, the state pays the entire
difference between out-of-state legacy students
and in-state tuition. While House Bill
2007 does not go that far, it does give the
Board of Regents authority to offer a discount.
Proponents of the bill believe the
legislation is extremely important to future
success of the state universities of Kansas.
State universities need programs that not only
helps keep the best and brightest in Kansas but
also help incentivize some of the best
minds in the country to pursue higher education
in our state. Officials from the
University of Kansas stated that this measure
will be revenue neutral because they expect a
significant number of the 90,000 alumni
currently residing out of state will send their
children to Kansas for college. Increased
enrollment numbers will offset any cost to the
state caused by the initial discount.
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