The Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback will soon decide in which direction to take the state.
They will either strike a course for fiscally sound ground that will support good schools, solid infrastructure and a reliable workforce, or they will lead us deeper into a swamp of borrowed money and more cuts to services and programs.
For years, the state has failed to balance its revenues with its spending. Instead it has used a series of loans, huge transfers from highway funds, and other gimmicks to pay its bills.
Even with such schemes, the state has ended up short, and has had to repeatedly cut services.
The governor this month will propose a budget that will be his map for guiding the state’s finances.
In considering Brownback’s plan, legislators and other Kansans should focus on three major issues.
The first is tax policy.
Over the past five years, the state’s tax structure has been tilted to favor the wealthy.
Income taxes for all Kansans have been cut, but income taxes for hundreds of thousands of businesses were eliminated entirely. This means that at many workplaces, the bosses don’t pay state income taxes, but the people who work for them do.
As the income tax for many was eliminated, the sales tax for all of us was raised. Because low and middle-income families spend more of their income on food and other necessities subject to the sales tax, their tax burdens have increased over the past few years.
This was the tax policy that Brownback pledged would create thousands of jobs in the state. But according to the Kansas Department of Labor, the state lost more than 25,000 jobs between November 2015 and November 2016.
Before the tax cuts took full effect, Kansas was creating jobs, albeit more slowly than just about any state in the nation. That slow growth has now turned into losses.
That’s not to say Brownback’s tax policy is to blame for the job losses. It is to say that Brownback’s policy has failed to create jobs.
And it has, at the same time, created a fiscal crisis for state government.
The first order of business is to put the state’s finances on solid ground by adopting a tax policy that emphasizes fairness and generates sufficient funds to pay for programs and services.
That brings us to the second order of business, which is the school finance formula.
Lawmakers need to ensure that the state’s public schools are adequately funded, and no one should assume that means adding substantially more money.
It might mean reducing the state’s share for capital improvements. It might mean eliminating provisions that shift money to private schools.
It definitely means making success in the classroom a priority. Funding decisions should focus on ensuring money is spent effectively to help kids learn.
The third priority for Kansas in 2017 needs to be the state’s workers.
Whether they plow our highways, teach at our universities or care for patients at state facilities, they play an important role in making Kansas the kind of state we want to call home.
For too long, they have paid the price of the state’s lousy financial planning.
Kansas, like most of the nation, was hit hard by the 2007 recession. As the nation struggled through the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, it was understandable that public employees would share in the pain.
But the recession is over. Kansas cannot afford to keep driving employees from their jobs and out of the state with lousy pay and work conditions.
Some of the problems have been well documented: crushing overtime demands for employees at state mental facilities; understaffed prisons; and too few highway patrol officers. Other issues are more difficult to quantify, but there’s little doubt that wage freezes, benefits cuts and other issues have led some of our best employees to leave.
State lawmakers can help change that. They can return the state to sound fiscal ground, a prerequisite for providing public employees more opportunities. They also can ensure our schools are funded adequately, with a focus on learning.
It won’t be easy. Lawmakers and Kansans will need to keep our state motto in mind: To the stars through difficulties.
A Plains View 