To the editor:

Am I missing something here? Did the court’s order say anywhere that the Legislature must raise taxes, or did it simply say that the Legislature must find money for education? I believe it was the latter.

One way to find money would be for the legislators to forego their pay for the special session. This would accomplish two things: (1) it would free up some money for education, and (2) it would help to create an incentive for the Legislature to take care of business during the regular session.

There is no excuse for this issue not having been taken care of in the regular session, and those who obstructed efforts to do so, should not be rewarded for their failure to do the real work of the Legislature. Now, in the special session, these same folks have begun their avoidance amendments and other delaying tactics again instead of buckling down and doing the work we sent them to Topeka to do. One gets the impression that these folks’ goal is simply to put a few more dollars from “legislating” in their own pockets at the expense of the children of Kansas.

Of course, making up the shortfall in funding for education requires more than refusing to pay legislators for the special session they could have avoided. For example, we could cut salaries for all public officials at the state level (with the possibility of reinstatement once a track record for results is established) and there are other areas where money is being spent without providing benefit to the people of Kansas. Fiscal conservatives understand this. Too bad we have so few of those in Topeka today.

Ruth Hull,

Lawrence