“If there is not war, you do not get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you do not get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would know his name.” Theodore Roosevelt.
This has indeed been a very busy week in Topeka. Chairman Kevin Yoder called a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee to take a look at the budget, discuss current and proposed budget adjustments and hear testimony from the many agency heads.
The chairman and committee members are taking a pro-active and bipartisan approach to discovering the true facts, looking at revenue projections, asking the agencies for recommendations and reviewing the affect on services with further cuts. Anyone have any idea, we are all ears!
I was in town for the Legislative Post Audit Committee where we heard audit reports on two different topics; one was; Adult Correctional Agencies: Determining whether functions could be combined to gain cost effectiveness.
The meat of this audit was a proposed consolidation of the Department of Corrections (DOC), the 17 member Sentencing Commission, and the Parole Board. The mission of the separate entities although similar are distinctly different.
The Corrections Department contributes to the public safety by exercising reasonable, safe, secure and humane control of offenders while encouraging and assisting them top become law-abiding citizens. Director appointed by the Governor, 366 employees.
The Parole Board contributes to public safety by determining the conditions under which offenders may be released from prison in order to maximize their potential to become law-abiding citizens, and determining when to revoke an offenders parole due to violations. 3 members appointed by Governor for a 4-year term.
The Sentencing Commission contributes to the public safety by developing procedures and reporting methods to evaluate the guideline sentencing system; developing mechanisms to link sentencing practices with correctional resources and policies; and determining the impact of guidelines on the State’s prison population. 17 part-time members appointed by Governor, Chief Justice and Legislative Leadership.
The savings of bringing the Sentencing Commission under the DOC to eliminate administrative functions could save approximately $48,000, and the Parole Board staff functions are already conducted by KDOC.
Further deductions could be realized because the pay would most likely be cut for each member of the parole Board.
Operationally the three agencies support each other however the discussions revealed they should be stand alone to avoid any thought of impropriety or undue influence. Further discussion will take place within the legislative Judiciary Committees in 2010 to try and come to legislative position.
The second audit related to Catastrophic Funding for Special Education. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) requires states to provide special education services to all children between the ages of 3 to 21 who need special services because of conditions such as mental retardation, hearing or visual impairment, emotional disturbance, or autism.
Why has the number of “catastrophic” special education claims increased in recent years, and how many claims are likely over the next several years?
Under a 1994 provision added to the special education funding statutes, districts and cooperatives can receive and extra reimbursement for “catastrophic” special education cases-those that cost at least $25,000 per year.
According to the Department of Education (DOE) the number of catastrophic cases (and the accompanying reimbursements) has increased dramatically in recent years, from 87 cases ($1.1 million) in 2005 to 758 cases ($12.0 million) in 2009.
The Shawnee Mission school district accounted for the largest share of this increase; it hadn’t identified any catastrophic cases until 2009, when it identified 333. According to district officials, the district had not calculated the costs properly in the previous years, and therefore didn’t know it had students who were eligible.
Under current law, the auditors estimate the number of claims could increase by almost 625%. The number of claims could jump from 758 to 5,500 and that equates to real dollars $12 million in 09 to $48 million 2010. Many districts said they did not report all the eligible they could because of the data collection and reporting difficulties.
The audit also discovered that some school districts were “double dipping” due to the fact they were not required to report any state categorical aid they had already received. Many districts stated they did not know all of the reporting or the eligibility requirements.
Actually the long and short of this audit discovered that we have one of the most convoluted revenue sharing formulas and accounting systems for school funding in our universe. I am open to any suggestions.
As you can see this presents a particularly scary scenario for the budget. When you throw in the street talk by some attorneys and school districts of suing the legislature for more school funding it makes the next session look pretty unpleasant.
No one is suing the Legislature, they are suing the taxpayers of Kansas, and they are using taxpayer money to pay the attorneys. Does anyone out there think we need additional taxes? What service are you willing to give up? Those are your options. Every agency in the state has taken some very big budget reductions and has eliminated services, what do we do next?
You can review the entire report online, 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. My contact numbers remain; home 1115 Rim Rock Road El Dorado 67042, 316-321-2087, email johng@carlisleinc.net, previous editions of these updates can be found at www.johngrange.net.
Thanks, John
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