This is a response from MainPAC, the political action committee of the MainStream Coalition, to an article posted about our endorsements in Tuesday's elections.

Act now to Kansas legislators to oppose HB 2104, a bill in the balance today that would change local and school board elections to the Fall of even numbered years. This is a purely political move by Governor Brownback, Kris Kobach, and their allies in the Kansas Legislature, and is not supported by school boards, superintendents, municipalities, or Kansans.

This is testimony being delivered today by MainStream, in opposition to SB 175, "Exercise of religious freedom by postsecondary education student associations." 

The final deadline to push bills out of the house of origins kept committees busy through this eleventh week in the Kansas 2015 legislative session. The intensity level is rising in Topeka, discourse is bordering on the uncivil, and even though the conservative alliances are getting harder to forge – the extreme push is on.  While we may have known the next big wave of extreme policies were coming the moment the November election results were finalized, this foresight doesn’t make the reality of all the wasted opportunity and pending damage any less appalling.

The plan we described at the beginning of the Kansas legislative session is starting to fall into place for Governor Brownback and his allies. There were three legs to this plan: reducing school finance, eliminating resistance from the judicial branch, and continuing to slash taxes.

The bill to eliminate the existing school funding formula and replace it for two years with block grants has passed the KS House (after a long and questionable delay while one more vote was sought), and will shortly surely pass the KS Senate. This bill purports to give school districts more money, more flexibility, and a steady source of income.

This ninth week in the Kansas 2015 legislative session is marked by another decisive blow in the contentious battle to re-define Kansas. The very nature of our K12 public education system is awaiting final vote in the House chambers, today at 8 am.  If Thursday’s March 12 vote is any indication, 64 state representatives have voted in favor of taking a flying leap off the cliff.  The simple majority calls for 63 votes.

Block grants are on the KS House floor right now, this very moment, and we need you to contact your representatives in the legislature. Our moderates are under intense pressure to support this scheme, and they must hear from us!

This is the testimony being submitted today by MainStream in opposition to HB 2403 and SB 273, the block grant bills being heard in the Kansas Legislature today.

Last week saw a lot of action, and this week, though the Legislature didn't come back until Wednesday, has already seen some movement on the big three: the budget, education finance, and judicial selection.