Sebelius proposes all-day kindergarten, increased university funding / LJWorld.com

Kansas Legislature

Legislature must approve state’s $12.4 billion budget

January 12, 2007

Increased funds for all-day kindergarten, health care and higher education were among some of the spending proposals made Thursday by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Sebelius also called for a 4 percent pay increase for state employees as part of her $12.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

But the 839-page budget was silent on plans for universal health care coverage - a goal Sebelius set in her State of the State address Wednesday.

And the spending blueprint contained no hint of how she planned to address an estimated $727 million in repairs at state colleges and universities.

Sebelius promised to have a proposal on that later in the month.

The governor's recommended budget is usually used as the basis for the legislative discussion and is surely to be altered by lawmakers. A final budget requires legislative approval. Fueled by higher-than-expected state tax collections, Sebelius was able to increase funding in several areas, said her budget director, Duane Goossen.

He said the recommended increases were "fairly modest, but targeted toward some key things."

Among the recommendations:

¢ $4 million in state funds to guarantee health coverage for uninsured children up to age 5. This is a repeat request from last year, which had been rejected by the Legislature.

Sebelius made no mention in her budget plan of universal health care, even though she told lawmakers that a plan to cover every Kansan should be developed this year.

"There has to be a lot of discussion ahead on that," Goossen said.

¢ $15 million more to start a five-year phase-in of all-day kindergarten statewide. Her plan also locks in the full $466 million, three-year school funding increase that was approved last year.

¢ $30 million increase in operating grants for the state's public universities.

¢ $3 million increase for state student financial assistance.

¢ $3.2 million to allow free state park admissions.

¢ A step movement and 1.5 percent cost-of-living increase for state employees, which amounts to a 4 percent pay increase, Goossen said.

¢ $20 million increase to reduce waiting lists for home-based services for developmentally and physically disabled Kansans. The plan would also provide new funds to serve autistic Kansans in their homes.

¢ $1 million to plan for construction of an electric transmission line to carry wind-generated electricity to customers.

The plan also calls for a reduction in the corporate franchise tax that would total nearly $13 million.

Lawrence school Superintendent Randy Weseman said he wasn't sure whether the increase for phased-in all-day kindergarten would enable the district to offer it.

"The devil is in the details," Weseman said.

The state now pays for half-day kindergarten, and most school districts make up the rest to provide for full-day. Lawrence does not. Under Sebelius' proposal, the state would up that payment by 10 percent each year until after five years, when the state would be paying for all of full-day kindergarten.

In higher education, Sebelius recommended an increase of $41 million, with $30 million of that going to the operating grants to the state's six public universities, including Kansas University.

That constitutes about a 5 percent increase in funding to the universities, Goossen said. The Kansas Board of Regents would determine how to distribute the funds.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway said he was pleased.

"This is a governor that cares about higher education," Hemenway said. "The governor really understands that if you're going to have a successful economy in the 21st century, you have to have a successful 21st century system of higher education," he said.

Reggie Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the regents, said Sebelius' budget plan "recognizes higher education as a critically important priority. ...

"Operating grant increases and substantial student financial assistance enhancements move us in the right direction."

Discussion

LJWorld.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

12 January 2007
at 8:05 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Shardwurm (Anonymous) says…

I wish this woman would just shut up. I can't afford to live here as it is.

Did we discover diamonds in Western Kansas or something?
12 January 2007
at 8:11 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Yes, I think that the State should be the taxpayer supported babysitter for all pre-schollers and kindergarten kids.

Thanks.

Marion.
12 January 2007
at 8:44 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

mollysoph (Anonymous) says…

Quit talking out of your b***, Marion about all day kindergarten, or babysitting, as you call it. Spend a day in a kindergarten classroom and see what its all about. Full-day kindergarten would greatly benefit the children of this state in many ways. Academically, half-day kindergarten has to cut back on many social and emotional lessons, social studies units, and valuable art projects in order to fit in all the academics 5 year olds are expected to master. Children who are not meeting standards would benefit from having more time to master the skills needed, kiddos who are ahead of the curve would benefit from enrichment time, kids who are meeting goals will have opportunities for further expansion. Simply because some families will benefit from a longer school day for their kindergarteners doesn't mean it's the purpose behind the push for funding. If everyone who did not directly benefit from services provided by the government slashed them from the budget, our country would be in a very sorry state. Why don't you look at the big picture, and open up your eyes to the fact that all day kindergarten will directly benefit the children of the state of Kansas (who will someday be taking care of your sorry, geriatric behind…)
12 January 2007
at 8:53 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

blessed3x (Anonymous) says…

Hold on to your wallets, folks. It's going to be bumpy ride.
12 January 2007
at 8:58 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

planetwax (Anonymous) says…

As a parent to a three year old, I'm thrilled to see some discussion about an all day kindergarten. I'm saddened to see that people without children don't see the benefits to society when we invest in all citizens of this county, state, country, planet.

Janet
12 January 2007
at 9:34 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

mollysoph (Anonymous) says…

Dambuzo- Recently? Have you been since you were a child? Standards have changed dramatically. Instead of learning how to sing “The Farmer In the Dell,” kids need to know how to identify fractions, read and comprehend text that used to be at a 1st grade level, order and identify numbers to 20, sequence information from a variety of text, etc. It's considerably different than it used to be, and because the standards in all grades have been bumped up, the need for more time in kindergarten has increased.
12 January 2007
at 9:35 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

mollysoph (Anonymous) says…

Dambuzo- Recently? Have you been since you were a child? Standards have changed dramatically. Instead of learning how to sing “The Farmer In the Dell,” kids need to know how to identify fractions, read and comprehend text that used to be at a 1st grade level, order and identify numbers to 20, count to 100 by 1's, 2's , 5's and 10's, sequence information from a variety of text, etc. It's considerably different than it used to be, and because the standards in all grades have been bumped up, the need for more time in kindergarten has increased.

12 January 2007
at 9:51 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

DaREEKKU (Anonymous) says…

It's funny that a Republican ran this state into the ground and now a Democrat is trying to pick up, what was a state in financial ruin, and turn it around (which she has successfully done so far) and all you people have to do is gripe and complain. Gov. Sebelius has proved to be a fiscally responsible politician, and frankly I think it's a GOOD idea to invest in the local economy by keeping citizens healthier and more educated.
12 January 2007
at 9:52 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Molly:

Yes, the “higher standards” to which you refer have indeed proven to be a very good thihng.

I have linked to a few articales which willexplain to the readers why more of our children need to be under the care of the State for more of the day:

Why Johnny Can't Read:

http://www.exhibithall.org/magazine/e…

Time Reports On Similar Successes:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/art…

See Dick Not Able To Add Or Subtract:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/…

Jane Doesn't Know History:

http://www.todaysalternativenews.com/…

Yep, I'm ready to wrap up any kid of mine into a failing and ineffective “educational” system for all day long!

Thanks.

Marion.
12 January 2007
at 10:24 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

jmadison (Anonymous) says…

Higher taxes drive away current or potential businesses.
Kansas actually had a lower number of people working (-0.2%) in the private sector—per the state's reporting of employment.
The rest of the country is having job growth, while Kansas lags under the weight of the failed leadership of our current governor, who has never seen a tax she can't embrace.
12 January 2007
at 11:39 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

salad (Anonymous) says…

Yep, they'll have to raise taxes, that's for sure. However, 1/2 day kindergarten is impossible for parents, since now-a-days both parents have to work just to scrape by. Then you still have to pay full price for day care for the other 1/2 day so you can go back to work. It sucks for the kid, it sucks for the parent. Full day kindergarten is at least workable, and that only sucks for the taxpayer, but it's only a tiny little suck. Full day kindergarten is the best solution for working parents, I'd love it!
12 January 2007
at 12:30 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

cog_nate (Nate Poell) says…

have linked to a few articales which willexplain …

Why Johnny Can't Read:

_____

Ah, Marion. You make me smile.
12 January 2007
at 12:32 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Rationalanimal (Anonymous) says…

It's now official: public schools have evolved into taxpayer subsidized daycare systems. Public schools will continue the spiral downards towards total failure (e.g. virtually any inner city school district in America) until we get back to viewing public schools as places of education instead of places to dump our kids off for 8 hours of free daycare (or unofficial juvenile lockdown for the inner city districts).
12 January 2007
at 1:15 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

Perhaps the KU Women's Studies faculty will add kindergarten to its curriculum.
12 January 2007
at 1:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

salad (Anonymous) says…

Rational is correct, and in accord with the code of taking personal responsibility and direct action, I can only assume that Rational will now become a teacher in order to make a difference!

12 January 2007
at 1:53 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

63BC (Anonymous) says…

The real whopper in the Governor's budget is exposed in the article's third paragraph–

But the 839-page budget was silent on plans for universal health care coverage - a goal Sebelius set in her State of the State address Wednesday.

The bigge$t item of all and not a word on it in the budget. The mendacity of this administration is breathtaking sometimes.
12 January 2007
at 2:35 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Rationalanimal (Anonymous) says…

Salad: my contribution to making a difference will be to spend time with my kids, be “THE” person making sure their homework gets done, making sure a parent is physically present when they walk out of the school doors—you know the basics, being a responsible parent, making sure my kids have a stable home environment where they know they are loved, and held responsible for their actions. I don't need Gov. Sebellius to do that for me.
12 January 2007
at 2:54 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Taxpayer (Anonymous) says…

Sebelius is still campaigning by bringing up these popular, if expensive, “wants”; perhaps she does have higher ambitions.

The findings for the positive academic benefits of all-day kindergarten are based on research conducted with AT-RISK children. Not EVERY child in Kansas is at-risk. There is copious evidence that the performance of Kindergarten children on “pre-reading” tasks such as phonemic awareness, letter identification, and others, correlates with later reading achievement, particularly at grades 4 and 7. There are many, many publicly-and privately-funded programs in place to help these at-risk children. Some are good, some are not.

Researchers (at KU!) found a 30-million word gap between the vocabularies of low-income and professional-income children from birth to approximately 4 years of age. Clearly, much happens at home before students come to school. Consequently, schools, by themselves, can not solve all of the educational difficulties.

The question is, “do Kansans want to replace some state-funded existing programs with a state-wide all day kindergarten?” If so, then disband some of the programs that have not proven their effectiveness.

I am not in favor of all-day kindergarten for ALL children.
12 January 2007
at 3:20 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

salad (Anonymous) says…

Um, rational, aren't you supposed to do all that stuff regardless? That's pretty much what everyone does. So you just bitch about the status quo, but yet perfectly happy to accept it if changin' it means you have to go above and beyond.
12 January 2007
at 6:07 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

cog_nate:

Typos because I'm in a hurry do not constitute any sort of reading problem.

I edit what is truly important, like the book on which I am working.

Thanks.

Marion.
12 January 2007
at 6:21 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Godot (Anonymous) says…

Will all children be required to attend this all-day kindergarten? If so, why?
12 January 2007
at 6:32 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

dbrm4ever2006 (Anonymous) says…

My oldest went from all day preschool to half day kindergarten, and had a hard time adjusting. If all day kindergarten is not started by the time my baby starts school, she will be homeschooled until 1st grade. you are not required to have your child attend kindergarten in the state of Kansas
12 January 2007
at 8:59 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Well, about the only thing that kids really learn in kindergarten, day care, etc., is the bad behaviour of the other kids.

Kindergarten is a joke and one kid with a stay at home Mom is worth a dozen in the Kinderzoo.

Thanks.

Marion.