Another legislative session in the books and another failure to pass meaningful school choice. When will it happen? When will the legislature get off their collective keesters and allow Kansas students to find a school that best suits their individual needs? What are they afraid of?
Why? What’s it gonna take?
Passing school choice legislation in this now-concluded session should have been a no-brainer. A universal ESA, a type that has been passed by several states over the past few years, or a tax credit scholarship program similar to the one just adopted in neighboring Oklahoma, should have passed like a warm summer breeze. A small expansion of Kansas’ existing tax credit scholarship program passed the Senate but was never brought up for a vote in the House, while an Oklahoma-like refundable tax credit passed out of the Senate Education Committee but was never considered by the full chamber.
The reality is that Kansas is a big government state, and one level of government (the Legislature) fears another level of government (the public school conglomerate). Individual legislators may (rightly?) bristle at that accusation, but the proof is in the pudding.
Yes, indeed, Kansas is a big government state, and feeding that Frankenstein is job one of the state legislature. In Kansas, government is a growth industry. In Kansas, public K-12 education is the biggest tentacle of that monster.
How big is government in Kansas? The Sunflower State ranks fifth in the country in the number of local governments per capita. According to the latest census data, there are 3,768 local governments in the state. That’s one government organization for every 780 residents. Only the much smaller populated states of North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska (which has virtually the same proportion as Kansas) have higher ratios. That translates into 681 public employees per 100,000 population, which is higher than every state except Wyoming and Alaska. And, those two states have unique circumstances that drive the higher public employee ratios.
And it’s not like the current educational system is just fine. Kansas student achievement is unacceptably low (now inexplicably below national averages), but the Legislature continues to do nothing about it.
Student outcomes in Kansas are abysmal. Ho hum. State assessment scores in 2024 continued to be awful to the point that the SBOE has changed the achievement level descriptors, and Randy Watson has lobbied to drop 10th graders altogether from the test…yawn…NAEP scores are flatter than the western part of the state…who cares?…ACT scores continue a downward arc…big deal.
The Republican-dominated Legislature even has a veto-proof majority, so the in-the-tank-for-big-public-education Governor Laura Kelly is irrelevant in this scenario. And speaking of Governor Kelly, isn’t it curious that she went on record fervently opposing President Trump’s protectionist tariffs, while being a strong proponent of protectionism for the public school system? I guess government protecting government is really where it’s at. Just ask Elon Musk.
School choice didn’t even get a sniff this last session. The attention was all on how much more money (surprised?) was to be allocated for special education. Never mind the fact that collectively, districts across the state had a cash balance in excess of $240 million in special education at the beginning of the school year. This reminds me of a verse from the Creedence Clearwater Revival song Fortunate Son:
And when we ask ‘em, “How much should we give?”
Hoo, they only answer, “More, more, more, more.”
Over half the state general fund budget goes to K-12 education, and that’s still not enough. Yes, undeniably, in Kansas, K-12 education is a ‘fortunate son.’
This is inexcusable. Just check the school choice landscape: a majority of both parents AND teachers favor ESAs. ESA momentum is spreading like wildfire in states politically similar to Kansas, at least in electoral terms.
More evidence of that big government influence on politics was on display during the last legislative session regarding the issue of property tax reform. That was an issue that entered the session with great fanfare but fizzled by the end of the session. Regarding the failure of property tax reform, Dave Trabert writes in The Sentinel:
(t)he political aspirations of several key lawmakers and the membership at large have driven this legislative session. On the one hand, this isn’t surprising. On the other hand, particular personalities and dynamics kick the process into overdrive. In general, they want to curry favor with some constituency—often government entities—or not alienate them, rather than run for re-election after fixing serious problems.
The reason for the failure of both education and property tax reform is the same: those in power fear challenging the status quo. The status quo, in this case, is that of a big government. For school choice, that would mean taking on public education, the growth industry that loathes any change to their obsolete business model; an increasingly obsolete model that is sustained only because Kansas is a big government state. State and local government is the tail that wags the Kansas economy.
This combination of fear and political aspirations has been at the heart of the failure of the Kansas Legislature to provide educational choice for the families and students in Kansas.
More to the point, legislators do not want to raise the ire of other governmental entities – in this case, school districts – because of what it might do to political careers. Who cares about the plight of underperforming schools that impact the lives of students all across the state when you might run the risk of not being reelected or losing your place in the leadership queue? Or, more realistically, hear considerable griping from a concentrated political constituency that has little bearing on a politician’s ambition.
How pathetic is that?
As Eddie Cochran sang in the classic tune Summertime Blues
I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote
But wait, Kansas already has school choice, so what’s the big deal?
Seriously? Here’s a snapshot of Kansas school choice:
- Charter schools. There has been a law on the books for more than three decades. There are fewer than 10 charter schools statewide, all run by districts because of the weakest charter school law in the nation. To call Kansas charter schools part of the school choice movement is an insult to the movement.
- Tax credit scholarship program. Now just over a decade old, this limited private school choice option serves just over a thousand students, an amount smaller than the number of students absent on a typical day in the Wichita school district.
- Open enrollment. This new law was put into effect with great fanfare, but, of course, the school districts have the final say in how many seats are ‘available’ to interlopers. Open enrollment is school choice for those opposed to school choice.
- Private school Vouchers. None.
Put all these factors together, and throw in the fact that 2025 is not even an election year, and what could have been easier than expanding school choice to levels that actually make a difference? But no, that big government thing keeps rearing its ugly cabeza.
But hope springs eternal, right? Especially when it comes to giving students a fighting chance.
The solution lies in a different avenue. Stay tuned.
