The Kansas House and Senate came together late last night to pass SB 37 with slightly higher tax rates that reduce the cost by $124 million over four years, but Governor Kelly says she will veto it. SB 37 raises the rates from 5.15% to 5.2% on the first $23,000 single / $46,000 married and from 5.55% to 5.57% on taxable income above those levels.  The vote was 108-11 in the House and 25-9 in the Senate.  Both chambers passed the bill by larger margins than the previous bill Kelly vetoed (HB 2036), although some legislators in both chambers were absent and didn’t vote. SB 37 hits the ..read more

Note: This is the final article in a four-part series on “Integrated Voter Engagement” in Kansas by Earl F. Glynn.  The Sentinel is reprinting the series with Glynn’s permission. This article reveals the impact of IVE on Kansas, and especially the “blueing” of Johnson County. Part 1 reviewed the history of IVE and how it started in Kansas. Kansas healthcare foundations spent big on Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) to push for “health equity.” Part 2 looked at the healthcare foundations funding Integrated Voter Engagement in Kansas. Four healthcare nonprofits were formed in Wichita and th ..read more

The new “A-F Grading for Kansas Schools,” based on 2023 state assessment scores, shows nearly half of Kansas public schools earned a “D” or “F” grade, and overall results are the worst in history. A traditional grade point average (4 points for an “A” down to zero for an “F”) produces a GPA of just 1.54 for all schools and 1.13 for Kansas public high schools.  There are 1,178 public schools with reportable state assessment results for the 2023 “A-F Grading for Kansas Schools.” The online publication, available at a-f.kansaspolicy.org, is produced yearly by Kansas Policy Institute (KPI ..read more

The Olathe Unified School District administration and board of education are either refusing to answer questions about legal fees defending a lawsuit the district ultimately lost or didn’t request copies of the invoices to review. Federal District Court Judge Holly Teeter on April 4 ordered the Olathe school board to pay Jennifer Gilmore’s attorney, Linus Baker, $259,233 in attorney’s fees — bringing the total cost to taxpayers to more than $700,000. Gilmore had sued in federal district court after she was thrown out of an Olathe Board of Education meeting in 2022 for political comments board ..read more

Note: This is the second article in a four-part series on “Integrated Voter Engagement” in Kansas by Earl F. Glynn. The Sentinel is reprinting the series with Glynn’s permission. This article looks at the healthcare foundations funding IVE in Kansas. Part 1 reviewed the history of IVE and how it started in Kansas. Part 3 shows the Kansas nonprofits receiving funding to engage in IVE. Part 4 reveals the impact of IVE on Kansas, and especially the “blueing” of Johnson County. ________________________________________ The first article in this series looked at the history of Integrated Voter Engag ..read more

The state Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases at the Lansing Middle School Auditorium before an estimated crowd of 200, part of the Court’s outreach to communities, educating them on the operations of the least-understood of the three branches of state government. The public is more familiar, and interacts more frequently, with the higher-profile executive and legislative branches. The Lansing event was the latest in a series of hearings the Court has conducted around the state since 2011, the 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood. That year, the Court convened in the Supreme Court cou ..read more

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of HB 2036 was entirely predictable.  We’ve heard the same excuses as she vetoed every income tax bill placed on her desk since 2019 – it’s not affordable, it gives too much relief to the wrong people, yada yada yada.  She professes to want to give Kansans “meaningful tax relief,” claims to be fiscally responsible, and is a middle-of-the-road compromiser. And every time she repeats that tune, I’m reminded of a different song by Sheryl Crow.  The chorus to “Say What You Want” goes like this: (Say, say what you want to) Even though you never mean ..read more

A Prairie Village man is suing over the appointment to a vacancy in the Prairie Village City Council. In his filing, Tim Swanson says the city council violated the law when it allowed Mayor Eric Mikklelson to appoint Chi Nguyen to the seat recently vacated by Lauren Wolf. Wolf resigned in March because she is moving out of her ward. Wolf submitted her resignation from the Ward 3 seat on March 4, 2024, and Swanson put forth his application to join the council on March 21, but says in his filing that Mickkleson claimed to have the authority to fill the position — something the court seems to agr ..read more

Note: This is the first of a four-part series on “Integrated Voter Engagement” in Kansas. This article looks at the history of IVE and how it started in Kansas.  Part 2 looks at the healthcare foundations funding IVE in Kansas. Part 3 shows the Kansas nonprofits receiving funding to engage in IVE. Part 4 reveals the impact of IVE on Kansas, and especially the “blueing” of Johnson County.  The series is reprinted with author Earl F. Glynn’s permission.  Glynn is a mostly retired Data Scientist, Scientific Programmer, Software Engineer, and Physical Scientist who lives in Olathe ..read more

“As I watch children in poverty, trapped in failing schools, who can hardly read, I’d be damned if I will continue to defend the status quo.” This recent quote from Louisiana Rep. Jason Hughes can also be said of Kansas students.  In 2015, about a third of low-income students were below grade level in reading and math; now, almost half are below grade level, and only about 20% are proficient. Hughes went on to say, “I know the political ramifications for me for voting for this bill. But I don’t need this $16,800 a year job bad enough to watch our children continue to live in poverty, trap ..read more