KELA becomes HB2367
The LPKS is proud to announce after over a year of collaborative work the Kansas
Education Liberty Act has now become KELA HB2367.
Much of the progress is due to our Vice Chair Al Terwlep who has worked tireless to advance KELA. Not only has he meet with countless state representatives, but he has worked with Foundation for Educational Choice, Institute for Justice, Americans for Prosperity, Kansas Public Institute and Kansas Catholic Conference, numerous parents, and teachers. Al has worked tirelessly to coordinate with these groups to propel KELA to where it is now. The bill has progressed as far as it has through the efforts of our Policy Researcher Stacey Davis. Mr. Davis actually wrote the bill, found initial support in the Kansas House of Representatives, spoke to representatives, and has publicly spoken about KELA numerous times.
HB2367 is largely the bill that Stacey Davis wrote and that the Executive Committee approved to be presented as Libertarian Party of Kansas Model Legislation. Changes have been made to the original wording which has limited eligible schools and eliminated home schoolers from the program. Stacey, Al, and the others scheduled to testify will fight to restore the original wording.
The hearing is in the House Education Committee next week, Tuesday, March 15th at 9 a.m. on the 7th floor of the Docking Building in room 784. Anyone interested, please send written testimony to the Education Committee Chairman’s secretary. Her name is Jane Johnston and her office is 174W in the Capital building, 785.296.7672.
You can view KELA HB2367 here:
http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/measures/hb2367/
You can view the original Kansas Education Liberty Act here: http://www.supportkela.com/
Original Article
The Libertarian Party of Kansas has crafted The Kansas Education Liberty Act (KELA) and will introduce it during the 2011 legislative session. KELA now has a stand alone website which can be found at www.SupportKELA.com and a page on Facebook (please become a fan to show your support). This legislation not only addresses the budget challenges facing Kansas, but positions Kansans to achieve better education outcomes by beginning the process of returning the primary control of educating children to the only place it truly belongs: to the parents of Kansas. You can find the synopsis of KELA below. At the bottom of this page are links to Frequently Asked Questions.
Kansas Education Liberty Act
Synopsis:
This bill addresses one of the most daunting challenges confronting the citizens of Kansas: the education of our children. Our already overburdened education system(1) is now facing additional trials due to ongoing state budget deficits. This bill turns to the people of Kansas to help address both our education and budget crises.
The Kansas Education Liberty Act emulates eighteen school choice programs already in place in ten states and the District of Columbia, serving over 171,000 American students(2). This bill authorizes a tax credit for individual and corporate contributions to organizations that provide educational scholarships to eligible students so they can attend qualified public and non-public schools of their parents’ choice. With legislative mandated limits on individual scholarships, the total tax credits associated with this bill are less than what is currently spent in the Base State Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP) thus reducing spending from the state’s general fund and reducing the budget short fall. Moreover, our children will enjoy improved education outcomes in both public and private education(3) in the state of Kansas.
Passage of the attached Kansas Education Liberty Act will allow Kansas to do the following:
- Increase parental involvement in education
- Increase community involvement in education
- Reduce class size in public schools
- Increase resources per pupil in public schools
- Encourage the growth of non-public school options
- Improve education outcome through allowing struggling students who normally demand greater resources in public schools to choose education options that more closely meet their individual needs and learning styles
- Encourage the development of alternative school environments to meet the needs of our most challenged and gifted students
- Reduce overall tax burden
- Reduce the Kansas education budget (Annual Savings of $133 Million)
Link: KELA Frequently Asked Questions
Link: PDF of the complete Act
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I was one of the kids in school that needed extra help but never got it until my family moved to ks, but even then the help was very limited to what was able to do to help me and the others that needed the help. We can change how kids today either stay in school or not, so will you help us give the kids of today and in the years to come a fighting chance to get the schooling that they need so that the kids have a fighting chance to have a future that might not be there there for them if we don’t do something about it now………….Thank You God Bless
ok can you sell it. think branding
Sure we can. The response to KELA has been very positive from both the general public and from educators. We have had representatives from the Foundation for Educational Choice (the old Friedman Foundation) fly into to Topeka to meet with our team. Now we are forming a broad-based coalition of support including both Rs and Ds. We will move this to become law…but it will a lot of hard work, some funding, and some time. Are you ready to help?
Stacey Davis
Policy Researcher LPKS
Interesting to read your positions on the Kansas Education Liberty Act. As a former Board of Education member, I will tell you that there are some things on here that are good and will work yet there are some things on here that simply won’t accomplish what you are looking for.
Increasing spending per pupil hasn’t helped. Ever. Why is it that it continues to be claimed as a fix???
Remember Kansas City 30-some years ago?? The great ‘desegregation experiment’?
Here is a refresher – http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html
And STILL, for all these years later, none of you learn anything from history and cannot come up with anything new.
Why don’t we take the role of education out of the hands of failed government and put it back where common-sense people made it sustainable, productive and results-oriented?
Pay a fair wage for a fair service. School administration can be cut immensely.
Get away from corrupt unions that only cause more problems and take monies that could go toward education. Unions are no longer necessary or viable.
Lose the Board of Education. Permanently. It’s nothing but a dinosaur that has failed across America.
The NEA is a joke, always has been.
Government has proven it is not capable of using common sense. It has no ability to improve, only spend. Other countries laugh at our levels of education. Countries that spend a hell of a lot less than we do.
More legislation is not the answer. Better and less legislation is.
Citizens in control of their own communities without governmental interference is.
This is just another way of coaxing more money from people… isn’t it?
And these SGOs… are they going to be audited regardless of evidence of fraud? Will their administrative and executive compensation be public knowledge?
Money isn’t the failure in public schools. The system is.
Just because you ignore the problem doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Steve,
I think you approached this with a preconceived notion of what you would find. Please read KELA again with an open mind. This bill _begins_ to do exactly what you propose; it returns the right and responsibility of educating the children of Kansas to the parents of Kansas. It does not do all you demand, but it moves us closer to your vision than anything else offered by any candidate or political party. Our goal is to introduce ideas that actually can be implemented in the current world we live it. This is one such idea.
Let me answer the actual questions that you included near the end of your comment.
This bill does return control of the education of children to parents and communities. There is no government control of KELA Scholarships. Kansans and Kansas business may choose to fund educational settings of their choice. Parents may choose to send their children to the educational setting of their choice. This bill advances Liberty for all Kansans.
This is NOT another way to coax more money out of people. It returns control of their money to taxpayers. Donations to SGOs are eligible for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to reduce that individual’s state income tax liability. For every pupil who opts to accept a KELA scholarship, Kansas Taxpayers will save over $2,600.
The SGOs will NOT be audited by any government agency. They are private not-for-profit organizations. They will be audited by taxpayers like me and you each time that we choose to donate (with the associated tax credit) to a specific SGO. If the SGO cannot demonstrate to my satisfactory that they using the money responsibly then I will not give to them. Before you give money to an SGO (and receive the associated tax credit) you should demand to know the administrative and executive compensation. We believe in people, and will treat you and other Kansans as adults capable of deciding which SGOs to support. There are provisions in the bill that to maintain their status as an eligible SGO, non-profits must distribute at least 90% of their donations to scholarships with 36 months of receiving the donation.
I truly believe that KELA is true to your principle. Feel free to call me, my contact information is on the front page of the http://www.KansasProud.com website and on the officers page of this website. I’ll answer your questions and concerns in person. We want to earn your support. We want to earn your vote.
Mr. Stacey Davis
Lt Governor Candidate
Lead Author of KELA
So you only allow “agreeable” comments?
Steve,
We welcome opinions and encourage discussion. The comment approval system is setup to prevent spam for being posted on this site, not a method to filter opinions (even those which may be contrary to ours).