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Below is a statement regarding Republican Legislators attempts to remove their responsibility for Special Education Funding and supporting Kansas families by changing the law to gut the funding requirement.

“When the Republicans talk about sound fiscal policy and putting Kansas Families first – it isn’t true. Recently, the interim committee meeting on Special Education Funding included a recommendation to consider removing statutory requirements to fund Special Ed. Any consideration of this backdoor attempt to remove their responsibility for budgeting money for Kansas students, and at a time when we have a record surplus in the state, is cowardly and craven,” said Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Rogers.

“This doesn’t make the budget responsibility disappear. Local school districts foot the bill when the state abandons its responsibility. All Republican leadership and their cronies are doing here is dumping the responsibility on Kansas Taxpayers at the local level – making local property taxes go up, hurting local schools, and making it even harder for us to convince teachers to stay in classrooms. When those families are shocked at their local tax bill, our Republican state legislators will blame the local government and hope we forget that they gave themselves a pass on doing their jobs.”

Special Education is one of the most important aspects of public education, these students and families are where investment pays off in ways that are beyond simple math. SPED funding gives parents freedom and hope for their children. It gives teachers a chance to really reach the students and be effective in the classroom and is a foundational part of meeting the needs of our students.

Stripping away the requirement to fund special education is a cowardly attempt to force students into a “one-size-fits-all” educational plan while ignoring what actually works. Instead, Republicans are putting in their real efforts toward turning public education into a ghost of the great system Kansans could rely on for their children of every ability.

The GOP demands loyalty of its members, not to the real values and people of Kansas. And this blind loyalty to whatever extremist poison the leadership decides to back isn’t just dangerous, it ends our state. Cutting special education funding is a direct attack on your child. Without the funding for special education your student’s teacher has to redirect their limited time in the classroom to meeting the needs of students who were previously having their needs met by the special education system.

Losing special education hurts everyone in and out of the education system. At the end of the day, the GOP legislators pushing this policy are giving a clear message: They don’t believe that your child deserves an education that meets their needs and they must stop pretending they care about Kansas families. Kansans deserve better.

LYNN ANNOUNCEMENT STATEMENT – 01.05.23

Kansas Democrats repeatedly send a loud message to the GOP that we don’t want a Kansas Government that is about pushing an ideological agenda that hurts our families. We repealed the Tax Experiment Disaster of Sam Brownback and his cronies and, in 2018, elected Governor Kelly and myself. In 2022 we rallied together and rose to the moment, joining with Kansans from across the state and varied political factions to preserve our Constitutional Rights. We stayed the course and ensured that Governor Laura Kelly and Representative Sharice Davids continued to serve the people of Kansas. We stood with our neighbors to block a constitutional amendment that attacked women’s rights. These are things we have built steadily up to over the years.

But it’s time for Kansas Democrats to ask for more.

We can not be satisfied with grasping at victory only in moments of great crisis when the media and the national spotlight come together to propel us toward meeting voters’ expectations. We came so close to taking away the supermajority in the Kansas House, less than 500 votes that would have forced the Republicans to be accountable to the voters and not the extremists within their base. These moments preserved so much of our progress in Kansas – but far too much was left on the table, and we MUST keep building, recruiting, and believing in our state.

Chris Mann should be our Attorney General Elect. Those five seats we left on the table in our State House of Representatives should have flipped. The way we have done things as Democrats in Kansas has gotten us this far, but we’ve hit a ceiling on our progress. It’s time to shake things up and move forward into the next chapter of what our party can be.

From the first day I decided to run for School Board in Wichita to my last day as Kansas State Treasurer, I have always seen my role in elected office centered on one thing: putting the people of Kansas first. What we do strongly impacts families, students, young people starting out, and our seniors moving into the golden years of their lives. None of them cared about our petty squabbling or old grievances because when we focused on that, we weren’t making sure their kids could be in school and have good teachers or how to ensure there were good jobs for young people or their parents, or that people could afford to retire. We neglect the daily realities of Kansan’s lives when we don’t focus on what is happening at their kitchen tables.

So now we must show Kansans that we heard them loud and clear – we haven’t done enough and must do more. We need to stand with them not just in places where friends surround us but everywhere in Kansas and have the hard conversations – and do it with respect and understanding. We must invest our time and energy into speaking with them from the first moments they are learning about the Constitution and our history as a nation to when they are worried about their grandkids and the world they are leaving behind.

That means doing some things differently, and I am prepared to put in that work. So after many weeks of talking with people across our great state and those who worked so hard on this election and ones before it, I am stepping forward and asking for the vote of my fellow Democrats to be Kansas Democratic State Party Chair.

We have a lot to accomplish. We need to invest in the great successes we have seen but also address our shortcomings. We need to invite new people to a seat at the table and ask many who have not felt welcome or have been left out to come back. I believe we can build on the successes of the last four years and set ourselves up for not just 2024 but ’26, ’28, and beyond. Kansas is at a crossroads, and we, as Democrats, have the right message and people to join our neighbors at their kitchen tables and work together for that future.

AD ASTRA RESPONSE POINT

There has been a party caucus for local elected officials. This caucus is critically important or highlighted in a way that would effectively grow the democratic bench in Kansas and ensure that local issues are highlighted as having the greatest impact on Kansas Families.

Lynn Rogers firmly believes that the party should be working with local leadership to support and engage campaigns that reflect democratic values while respecting the communities and their relationships with their neighbors.

No one benefits from KDP leadership coming in over the top to dictate to people in these communities as to who they have as their representatives.

It will be an immediate priority of Lynn Rogers to assess the resources, support, and conversations needed to make the local elected officials caucus a priority for the Kansas Dems. He welcomes anyone that would like to join in this conversation.

It is time to move on from old grudges and past grievances.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The executive director role is one that cannot be taken lightly. We have seen what happens when people lose faith or feel like no one is listening to them. Before Lynn can pick ANYONE to fill this role, we must have a conversation that lays out what the ED would be responsible for and look at whether or not we need to update the job description or potentially split the role to support the state of Kansas.

No one has been promised or offered a position because that would be putting Lynn’s potential pick before the needs of Kansans.

There will be many conversations once we have a better understanding of the status of the party and who our leaders will be in the coming years. We are reaching out to a huge range of collaborators. From precinct committee seats all the way up to caucus chairs and executive committee members, there is a potential for new people to be part of the conversation and the deserve the chance to be heard.