Engage at home!

With the special session of the Kansas Legislature just about a week away, now is the time for you to engage your representatives if you have not done so already.  Once they are under the dome, legislators tend to be focused on the politics within the building.  Most- not all- will take your calls, but in large part they are swimming in the ebb and flow of policy debate.

We recommend that you call your legislator right now.  As always, emails from personal accounts are okay, but personal contact is best.  Remember that KS Republican Party Director, Clay Barker has cast a dragnet to catch educators (and only educators) who exercise their right to free speech and who do so by voicing a dissenting opinion by using their school email or school devices.  Don’t succumb to their attempts to secure your silence through intimidation and fear.  Instead, take action now before the week ends and try to convey the following:

• You have an expectation that the Legislature will finally do their duty according to the state Constitution and fund public schools equitably and adequately.
• You expect them to steer clear of the political wrangling based upon the desire of some of the Governor’s closest allies to punish the Courts for doing their duty.
• The Supreme Court does not seek out cases.  They take cases brought before the court by complaint of citizens and they rule on the constitutionality of the laws at the basis of the complaint.
• The Court’s rulings in this case reflect the nature of the three branches of government system our state and nation were built upon to provide checks and balances against abuse of power.
• The Legislature led by the Governor’s closest allies have created the conditions of inequity and inadequacy in school funding and it is the Legislature that is responsible for correcting these conditions so that schools will open in the fall.
• You expect your representatives to have a single focus during this special session.  They should correct the conditions of inequity that exist without engaging in additional policy attacks in order to conclude the session quickly and ensure that schools open this fall.
• Tell your story.  How does the actions of your representatives translate to you in your community.  Give examples.

School Funding Poll Results

Over a period of about one week, we conducted a non-scientific opinion poll.  The poll was modeled after a recent poll published in the Kansas City Star.  Our goal was to publish the poll publicly via social media and engage respondents statewide.  While we make no claims about the scientific nature of the poll, we did take some very specific measures to ensure validity.  The results reflect only responses from unique I.P. (internet protocol) addresses. Basically, this means that responses which were likely to have originated from the same device were excluded from the results.  We published the poll within our organization’s social media properties, but we also published the poll through promoted posts statewide.  After filtering the results as mentioned above, we ended up with nearly 2,400 responses and over 1,800 “valid” responses.  The results are displayed below along with a map displaying the general locations of respondents who completed the survey.  Click the images to view full size.

Poll Results

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