We wish you a happy new year, and hope you had a restful holiday season, because 2015 will start with a bang in Kansas politics.

Already we've seen the Gannon decision come back from the courts, indicating in unambiguous language that Kansas has failed to adequately fund public education as required in the State Constitution. Not only that, but the courts also indicated that the practice of foisting ever-increasing amounts of education funding on the school districts through local option bonds is not acceptable.

The right wingers in the Kansas Legislature are lining up their troops to crash education funding, stacking committees with loyalists and denying seats to moderates looking to protect schools.

And all the while our "Who, me?" Governor alternately claims he had no idea of the seriousness of the budget crisis, or proposes dramatic one-time spending cuts that have to be approved (or changed) by the Legislature anyway. The national GOP is running away from Brownback and his allies, but it's still sunny in Governor Brownback's Kansas, apparently.

In the meantime, Democrats, Republicans, and reasonable citizens of all stripes are watching with horror as Kansas spirals into deficit and stagnant job growth.

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Batten the hatches and gird yourselves, the political year is about to begin.