Whether you have lived in western Kansas for a decade, as I have, or a lifetime, you tend to be independent. The region was built by hardy stock, refugees from the Kaiser and Ivan the Terrible. Compared with Wichita and suburban Kansas City, west of Interstate 135 might as well be another state. After one such attempt failed the eastern half of the state now seemingly wants the western half to go away.
In 1992 Kansas instituted a school funding formula to even spending differences between districts, limiting aid to a maximum of $3600 per student. But some districts in the state’s agriculturally- and oil-rich southwest corner spent more – up to $5,000 per student, under the previous system.
The negative reaction in Elkhart, Hugoton and Lakin and birthed an effort to secede to a new state along with communities in Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. The oil and farm riches would have made the new state wealthy and harmed eastern Kansas by draining the state of nearly $70 million in tax revenue. The movement was stifled partly by a concerted effort from eastern Kansas.
Today, the opposite seems to be the case. Drought and urbanization have depopulated western Kansas. Low oil and agriculture prices are making it worse. Half of Kansas’ counties have fewer residents than they did in 1900. Between 2000 and 2010, fifty counties declined in population. Twelve counties lost more than 10 percent of their total population in that decade, all of them in the state’s western half.
Only 25 House and six Senate districts run to the west of I-135. Western Kansas has just one-fifth of the House and one-seventh of the Senate seats. In 1990 the west had just over a third of both the House and Senate. Only two legislative leaders, Hutchinson’s Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce and Palco’s House Republican Caucus Chair Travis Couture-Lovelady, come from west of I-135. Reduced clout for western Kansas means less protection.
Perhaps that explains why the legislature has gone from trying to keep the west in Kansas to showing it the door. Two bills, one already passed, the other pending, would have massive adverse effects on the state’s breadbasket. The bill that has passed, HB2403, dumps the 1992 formula in favor of block grants. While the block grants would potentially hurt some other schools to the east of I-135, the western half of the state looks to take a disproportional hit. The result is that early school closings in western Kansas like Concordia will likely be followed with more early closings and even consolidations. The beating hearts of western Kansas communities, the very schools that inspired secession, may well be stopped.
Even more disturbing and damaging for the west is SB 178, which would raise agricultural land property taxes by a statewide average of 473 percent. With the majority of farmland in the state to the west, the actual hit would be even higher. Many farmers are land-rich and cash-poor, so paying five times higher taxes could be fatal to many western Kansas farms. Johnson County representatives may want to see the west pay what they believe is their fair share, but few farmers are making enough to sustain a five-fold tax increase. A sneaky way to increase state revenue, but a devastating blow to western Kansas’ agricultural tradition.
If the eastern half of the state’s representatives wish the 1992 secession movement had been successful today, they’re certainly acting like it. Drought, depopulation, and low prices have hurt the western half of the state in serious enough ways. The eastern half of the state seeing the west as a cash cow is both wrong and worse.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.