title:  Republican Budget Cuts Could Shut Down Every Public School In Kansas
text: Kansas  school system has been in considerable trouble ever since the state s Republican government decided to slash funding and change how money was distributed, which badly shortchanged poorer schools. Of course, Kansas Republicans didn t really seem to care until they were sued, and the case went to the state s supreme court. The court ordered them to fix the situation, and we re just certain they put forth their best effort, but the so-called  changes  resulted in no change at all for most schools.After reviewing the plan, the Kansas Supreme Court rejected parts of the plan, saying: Disparities among the districts remain inequitable and unconstitutional. If the legislature doesn t fix the problem in a way that makes funding fairer for the poorer districts by June 30, the court has ordered that all schools will remain closed until the funding problem is resolved.Governor Sam Brownback swept into office with grandiose promises about how tax cuts and budget cuts would result in businesses just flocking to the state, which, in turn would actually increase revenue for the state. The education funding crisis began after the GOP legislature and Brownback cut the state s education budget last year, after Brownback s promises of business windfalls failed to materialize.That s typical Republican thinking   these things never work that way. They live in denial, though.Last year, six districts had to close before the official end of the year because their funding had run out. Fortunately, they d already held enough days of school to still comply with the law, but they had to look for ways to tighten their belts without laying off teachers, which was quite painful for them.All the state legislature did to address the problem was reshuffle dollars around, but didn t increase education funding overall. According to U.S. News & World Report: Because the plan guarantees that no district loses any aid it already has been promised for the next school year, most of them  including the four suing the state   would see no change in their aid overall. Twenty-three would see small increases, covered by the state tapping an existing pot of emergency school aid. Forget Kansas  students. Forget producing graduates that can help take the state and the country into the future. Cutting government spending is Republican dogma. They don t care who they hurt, even if it means hurting children and the education they re entitled to under their state s constitution.Featured image by Gage Skidmore. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr