Today in the Kansas State House, legislators worked to fix school funding, hoping to reach a compromise that would keep schools open. Before passing controversial legislation that many see as failing to solve the court’s ask in a narrow vote 63-56, Republican Rep. Randy Garber of Sabetha argued that the State of Kansas faced two problems, and neither was funding.
The first, he argued, was that the courts had overstepped their bounds, proclaiming the authority to determine constitutional or not. He began by addressing a point raised by both Democratic and Republican legislators about the need to meet the court’s ruling, as they had cited the 1803 case of Marbury V Madison.
Speaking from the well, Rep. Garber argued: “Who decided the courts have this right? The COURTS!”
Garber, who argued in favor of a constitutional amendment that would prevent the court from evaluating school funding wasn’ t done yet, though, as his from the well tirade — which at times seemed disjointed — turned to what was REALLY ailing schools.
www.kansas.com/…
I say the way to fix our schools is to put prayer and the Bible back in and give it a chance,” said Rep. Randy Garber of Sabetha.
His comments came during a House debate over a plan to increase school funding by $500 million over five years. Lawmakers are seeking to respond to a Kansas Supreme Court decision that found schools are inadequately funded under the state constitution.
At one point, Rep. Garber said solely “ this is rape, do you know how many students think rape is OK?” before transitioning to a discussion of abortion, alternative lifestyles, STDs, and more, saying “Money does not fix this”.
Representative Randy Powell (R-Lenexa), in Kansas District 30 took a similar stance, taking to the well to contend that at current, Kansas schools may in fact be over-funded, and that the legislature should consider a reduction in funding for schools, not increases. Powell argued that underperforming schools have no incentive to stop “ underperforming” and should be penalized for failures, but that this was a continued “ fleecing” of the Kansas taxpayer. Powell argued that increases in vouchers and more opportunities for school choice, should be required to force schools to “ be competitive” .
The Kansas Truth Caucus, a strongly conservative group, endorsed these arguments, retweeting as they were made:
The bill passed, in a coalition of Conservative Republicans and some Moderate Republicans, with the majority of Democratic members and some conservatives voting no, though for very different reasons. Democratic members expressed significant doubt the bill would pass constitutional muster: “ What are we doing,” contended Democratic Representative Brandon Whipple (D-Wichita); “ I’ m putting on my professorial hat here; if an assignment says turn in a 20 page paper, and you turn in a ten page paper, you fail. The threat by conservatives to say 10 pages is too long, we’ ll only give you five — that doesn’ t matter. Whether it is 5 or 10 it is still going to fail.”
The legislation, as well as tax proposals behind it, go to the Senate, where this morning, House members were promised clean action by Republican leadership, though it appears they may not get follow through on that promise.