Brownback discusses small business during visit to Holton

During Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s visit to Holton on Friday, the governor’s aim was to hear the concerns of, and champion, small businesses.

But a small group of protesters also wanted Gov. Brownback to hear their concerns over what they saw as reductions in funding to public education.

The governor met with more than 100 area residents on Friday morning at Penny’s to discuss and get input on how to improve the environment for small businesses.

Brownback also took questions and comments on other issues, including education, which he said remains a “very high priority” for him and the Kansas Legislature.

“We put more than half our budget into Kansas schools. We’re fourth in the nation in percentage of budget we put into K-12. We put $177 million more into education this year than last year,” Brownback said. “It’s the lead function of state government, and it’s the leading place where we put most of our money. If you took a combination of K-12, higher education, teacher pensions and combined all that, that would probably be 65 percent of our budget.”

Protesters were not appeased by the statement, however, and as Brownback began to talk with those present on Friday morning, protesters shifted their chairs to turn their backs to him. Still, the governor welcomed comments and questions from people concerned over perceived cuts in education funding.

“The education issue’s been contentious for a while. But it’s good that people are out and saying what they think,” he said later that morning.

School officials and supporters have expressed dissent with the governor’s statement that the state has put more money into public K-12 education, noting that the state has changed how school taxes are collected at the state level. Each school district collects a 20-mill tax that is now required to be placed in state coffers before it is then sent back to individual school districts as “additional state aid.”

School officials also contend that additional state funding for the Kansas Public Employees’ Retirement System (KPERS), the retirement system for state workers that also benefits retired teachers, shouuld not be considered “school funds.”

The focus of Brownback’s visit, however, remained small business, and he congratulated Penny’s owners Vance and Erin Lassey on the recent opening of their business, which he called “a fabulous addition” to the community. Following the forum, he visited Heart to Home on the south side of Holton’s Town Square to talk with owner Candi Marr and purchase a Valentine’s Day gift for his wife.

Brownback stated that at 4.2 percent, Kansas has the 10th lowest unemployment rate in the country, adding that 59,000 private sector jobs were added during his first term as Kansas governor. Much of that, he said, is due to the growth of small businesses like Penny’s and Heart to Home.

“It’s where 75 percent of Americans work,” he said. “We’ve had record numbers of new small business filings in the past two years, and we’ll have it again this year.”

The governor also noted that eventually, he wanted to cut taxes on small businesses to zero, stating that a lower tax environment brings in more small businesses and more jobs. However, sales tax receipts in January were down from projections, with the governor noting that a 1.8-percent increase was well below the expected 4-percent increase.

Brownback also stated his aim to get Kansas off of income taxes and have state functions funded by consumption-based taxes, such as sales taxes, which are also paid by people who come through Kansas. He also expressed an interest in getting Kansas onto a “flat tax.”

Either way, however, Vance Lassey asked Brownback how, with reduced taxes, he planned to fund government and education while cutting spending and identifying budget waste. Brownback replied that over time, the Legislature needs to continue working on balancing the budget — particularly the state’s three “cost drivers” of education, Medicaid and the state pension system, the latter of which, he said, is “the biggest problem.”

Others asked Brownback about keeping out-of-state firms from bidding on state contracts, Department of Transportation overregulation of small businesses, state casino revenues and the proposed personnel drawdown at Fort Riley. But for many present, the biggest issue remained education funding, which Brownback said continues to get more money from the state each year.

“Every year I’ve been in office, they’ve put more money into K-12,” he said, emphasizing that the Holton school district reportedly received nearly $1.8 million more in funding this year than the previous year. “We’re trying to build it up, and we have been building it up.”

Brownback also expressed favor with a comment made about “consolidating” the county’s three school districts into one and reducing the amount of money put into administration and capital outlay. However, he said, money put into capital outlay needs to be rechanneled into base state aid for students.

“We really need to get more money into the classroom, and we’re not getting it,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of costs in the system that could be done differently, but I don’t think most people would operate the system that way. If you were redoing it today… you’d leave all your schools open, and you’d pump more money into the classroom and not into administration. But the system is not set up that way.”

The governor later expressed his gratitude to those who had questions about education, but continued to insist that funding for education has not necessarily been cut.

“The increase just isn’t as big,” he said. “The increase was supposed to be $130 million to K-12. It went to over $200 million, because the statute wasn’t rightly drafted, or there were problems in how it was going to be interpreted. It’s been backed down by allotments to $177 million, but that’s still $177 million more than this last year.”

He said he hopes the Legislature will take action to bolster base state aid rather than capital outlay.

“The problem with a lot of what was drafted was that a lot of it went to capital outlay and most people don’t want it in capital outlay but in teachers and classrooms, which is where I want it to go,” he said. 

Note: Video footage of the governor’s visit is also available at our website.