Check your calendars, Christmas is only 6 months away! Where has the time gone? Enrollment packets for USD 490 were mailed today and it seems like school just ended and the summer begun.
I spent most of this week on legislative matters that dealt with a variety of issues that included constitutent meetings on issues, meeting with Tod Bunting the Commanding General of the Kansas National Guard (KANG), and attending a daylong meeting of the Legislative Post Audit Committee (LPAC).
My meeting with Major General Bunting and his staff focused on matters pertaining to facilities, training, homeland security, recruitment and deployment locations and schedules. The KANG is seeing a slight increase in enlistments and requests for assignment or reassignment to active duty.
The economy has been tough on many of our soldiers and with many of them being laid-off they see service to our country as a way to provide for their families. The guard mission of today is much different than that of 30 years ago. As facilities begin to age and their mission changes, the necessary replacement or remodel of these 1940-50”s buildings could not come at more inopportune time.
As populations have grown or declined residential communities are facing the fact their Armories are no longer in ideal locations within the city. We were just brainstorming as how to address our needs in the next 5-10-20 years. Sustainability of our Kansas Guard force is very important to this state.
The LPAC was provided audit reports on a wide variety of topics that included education efficiency of K-12, Vehicle travel expense of lease versus state ownership, computer system security, child-care assistance and improper payments of entitlements. These audits are conducted by or own non-partisan agency and has a very capable staff that knows where to find the information.
I will report on only one audit this newsletter and will provide information on the others in the weeks to come. Legislators can request topics of audits and our committee must approve all requests and develop a scope of the audit. Any agency or entity within the State of Kansas that accepts state funds can be audited as to the propriety of spending that money.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHAA) is a non-profit educational corporation that regulates middle/junior high and high school interscholastic activities in Kansas. The association offers State championships in 11 boys’ and girls’ sports and 10 additional championships in music activities, debate, speech, drama and a scholars’ bowl.
The (KSHAA) has a 78 member Board of Directors that serves as the legislative body and passes all policies. The Board is comprised of representatives from all school classifications, private associations, and State Board of Education members.
In the past legislators have expressed concerns about the KSHAA’s governance structure, its policies for sharing event revenues, and its season lengths and restrictions on student-athletes’ contact with coaches. For this audit we surveyed all Association Board members and had a response rate of 52%. We also surveyed 6,500 coaches, principals, superintendents, athletic directors and school board presidents across the State of Kansas and had a response rate of 48%.
About one in four Kansas Association Board members who responded to our survey thought the 78 member board is to large and one in three thought it did not fairly represent all types of schools. One in five coaches and one in ten administrators who responded thought the association was unresponsive to the needs of athletes and schools.
The Kansas Board differs structurally from the boards in six-comparison states- Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas-in a number of ways. Most notably, Kansas’ Association is:
*The largest policy-making body of all comparison states, Colorado is second largest with 69 members.
*One of three states that allow members of private associations and the State Board of Education to sit on the policy-making board.
*One of only two states that have a separate appeals board.
The Kansas Association differs procedurally from the same six comparison states in the way the policy-making boards change rules and policies. Kansas is:
One of only three states to require the State Board of Education to approve bylaw changes passed by the association
One of only two states that don’t allow member schools to vote on rule changes.
All seven associations charge membership dues, participation fees, or both. The fees and dues vary widely from $1.00 to $1,300 per member school per year. Kansas charges $400.00 for High School members and $125.00 for middle school.
The Kansas Association generally allows host schools to keep 30% of the net playoff ticket sales. Other states associations vary in the amount they allow host schools to keep, with a range between actual costs to 100% of the ticket sales. Kansas is the only one that does not share any play-off ticket sales revenue with-or cover costs for-non-host schools.
The Kansas Association is governed by KSA 72-130 et seq and has 6 executives and 13 support staff. In fiscal year 2008, the association took in and spent $3.4 million. Most expenditure was for salaries, wages and for athletic and activity event costs, such as trophies, officials and insurance.
The Kansas Association spends an average of $276,991 a month and has a 20-month cash reserve of $5,587,499. The CEO makes $181,945 in salary and benefits. More than 40% of its operating budget is spent on staff. The full audit is available at www.kslegislature.org/postaudit.
I consider it an honor and privilege to be your Representative in Topeka and I want to know what you think. Thank-you to all that called or e-mailed me about last weeks’ article, I think I responded to all of you.
Contact me at home 1115 Rim Rock Road, El Dorado 67042, or call 316-321-2087, email johng@carlisleinc.net, past articles can be found at www.johngrange.net. Thanks again, John.
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