“The small towns in my district, that’s all they have.  Education is their business.  It’s an economic driver,” says longtime legislator Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell.

His 40th Senate District covers 19 northwest Kansas counties, and following redistricting, now includes Ellis County.

Ostmeyer spoke Saturday at his first “Eggs and Issues Legislative Forum” presented by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce at Fort Hays State University.

“I’m a member of the senate education committee,” he told the crowd gathered in the Robbins Center, many of whom he’d never met.

“Whether students live tiny Weskan or urban Johnson County, they should have the same opportunities.  The state should be more responsible for school funding K-12; it can’t be just the Local Option Budget,” he said.

The 2013 legislature has just finished its fifth week of work, noted Ostmeyer, “and there are lots of proposals in the state budget, but nothing is set in stone yet.”