Introductory Essay By Betsy L. Angert | Published at EmpathyEducates. March 31, 2014
In New Jersey, the Governor spends one million in taxpayer dollars for “full vindication;” yet there is nothing for education. In Kansas, legislators debate whether a teacher can spank, but as far as the Governor and his fellow Republican elected officials are concerned, there are no funds for education in the bank.
In March 2014, the Kansas State Supreme Court ruled that the level of school funding was unconstitutional. The Court said that the school funding cuts invoked by the legislature must come to an end. However, the Governor and his fellow elected officials view this with some discretion. Before the decision was handed down, Brownback used his State of the State address to caution the court, stay away from budget matters. “This is the people’s business, done by the people’s house through the wonderfully untidy — but open for all to see — business of appropriations,” he strongly stated. Since the ruling, little has changed. Indeed, some lawmakers in the Grand Old Party argue that it would be fine to simply ignore the court’s ruling.
In Pennsylvania, much is the same. The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia determined in a study that State Cuts to Education are Highly Discriminatory. And still, for years these remained. In 2014, Governor Corbett offered a ray of hope…The 2015 budget contains the biggest public education increase since Tom