Kansans have become growingly unsatisfied with governor Sam Brownback. He took office in 2011 with promises to create a “republican utopia”. He has tried to have the government funded by consumption taxes. Since he has taken office, hatred for Brownback has grown stronger throughout the state. He faces the lowest approval rating of any Governor in the country at only 26%. His actions while in office have left widespread damage across Kansas. He makes bold decisions without solid safety nets or backup plans. While many recognize Sam as a loving husband and strong family man, they see him as an unfit, reckless governor. Sam Brownback has failed in his duties as governor of Kansas and should not be re-elected because of his excessive budget cuts in schools, using the state as an experiment, and he is not trustworthy with his statistics. The education of Kansas youth ensures future success, however Brownback’s recent education budget cuts will leave a negative impact on schools throughout the state.
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The extreme cuts throughout the Kansa education system will directly affect every school in the state. These cuts were made to help offset missed revenue expectations since Brownback has taken office. “The governor, along with the state legislature, cut budgets for schools so much in the past that the Kansas Supreme Court last year declared school funding levels unconstitutional” (Richinick). Brownback chose to aggressively cut taxes for the wealthy and his plan to stimulate economic failed miserably therefore, a total of $44.5 million dollars was cut from the education budget. This problem could have been eliminated if Brownback has initially created a backup plan for his failed experiment. However, because he did not, it is directly affecting the youth.Brownback announced the $45 million cut mid year, leaving many school districts struggling to continue the school year. Education needs to be a top priority in the state and should receive more funding instead of taking it away. As a result, “at least eight school districts that saw their funding cut this year because of a greater-than-projected slide in state tax collections will begin shutting down before the scheduled end of classes. Dozens of others have eliminated or cut programs” (Jones). Schools are scrambling to figure out where they can make up for the money that was taken away. Brownback’s plan may have left the wealthy with a little more spending money, but with education being the opportunity cost of his decision. His inability to resolve budget issues have negatively affected the education system in Kansas. Brownback had a plan to run a “real life experiment” in Kansas that he said would prove the reliability of trickle-down economics. His experiment included drastically cutting taxes for the wealthy. He believed this would allow the wealthy to spend more, thus pumping more money back into the economy to stimulate growth. However, his experiment turned into a nightmare for Kansas residents when it failed miserably and through the whole budget out of whack. Brownback “slashed spending on the poor by tightening welfare requirements, he rejected federal Medicaid subsidies and privatized the delivery of Medicaid, and he dissolved four state agencies and eliminated 2,000 state jobs” (Meadors). Instead, the Kansas credit rating has decreased, the poverty rate has increased, and the economy has increased at half the rate that surrounding states have. The overall state of Kansas has declined in one way or another since Brownback took office. Kansas was already economically unstable before the experiment and Brownback has no safety net for his deep tax cuts. In fact, “During the first fiscal year that his plan was in operation, which ended in June, the tax cuts had produced a staggering loss in revenue--$687.9 million, or 10.84 percent” (Meadors). This revenue must now come from other sources and the governor must now slash budgets even more or raise taxes to make up where his experiment fell short. More jobs were to be created by big companies who benefitted by these cuts. However, there were no requirements for the wealthy to actually do any of this so Brownback’s plan failed. In fact during the “first fiscal year that his plan was in operation, which ended in June, the tax cuts had produced a staggering loss in revenue--$687.9 million, or 10.84
The extreme cuts throughout the Kansa education system will directly affect every school in the state. These cuts were made to help offset missed revenue expectations since Brownback has taken office. “The governor, along with the state legislature, cut budgets for schools so much in the past that the Kansas Supreme Court last year declared school funding levels unconstitutional” (Richinick). Brownback chose to aggressively cut taxes for the wealthy and his plan to stimulate economic failed miserably therefore, a total of $44.5 million dollars was cut from the education budget. This problem could have been eliminated if Brownback has initially created a backup plan for his failed experiment. However, because he did not, it is directly affecting the youth.Brownback announced the $45 million cut mid year, leaving many school districts struggling to continue the school year. Education needs to be a top priority in the state and should receive more funding instead of taking it away. As a result, “at least eight school districts that saw their funding cut this year because of a greater-than-projected slide in state tax collections will begin shutting down before the scheduled end of classes. Dozens of others have eliminated or cut programs” (Jones). Schools are scrambling to figure out where they can make up for the money that was taken away. Brownback’s plan may have left the wealthy with a little more spending money, but with education being the opportunity cost of his decision. His inability to resolve budget issues have negatively affected the education system in Kansas. Brownback had a plan to run a “real life experiment” in Kansas that he said would prove the reliability of trickle-down economics. His experiment included drastically cutting taxes for the wealthy. He believed this would allow the wealthy to spend more, thus pumping more money back into the economy to stimulate growth. However, his experiment turned into a nightmare for Kansas residents when it failed miserably and through the whole budget out of whack. Brownback “slashed spending on the poor by tightening welfare requirements, he rejected federal Medicaid subsidies and privatized the delivery of Medicaid, and he dissolved four state agencies and eliminated 2,000 state jobs” (Meadors). Instead, the Kansas credit rating has decreased, the poverty rate has increased, and the economy has increased at half the rate that surrounding states have. The overall state of Kansas has declined in one way or another since Brownback took office. Kansas was already economically unstable before the experiment and Brownback has no safety net for his deep tax cuts. In fact, “During the first fiscal year that his plan was in operation, which ended in June, the tax cuts had produced a staggering loss in revenue--$687.9 million, or 10.84 percent” (Meadors). This revenue must now come from other sources and the governor must now slash budgets even more or raise taxes to make up where his experiment fell short. More jobs were to be created by big companies who benefitted by these cuts. However, there were no requirements for the wealthy to actually do any of this so Brownback’s plan failed. In fact during the “first fiscal year that his plan was in operation, which ended in June, the tax cuts had produced a staggering loss in revenue--$687.9 million, or 10.84