Kansas will have its 47^th Governor, Dr. Jeff Colyer, sworn in January 31^st at 3:00. Governor Brownback will be leaving to be the U.S. Ambassador to International Religious Freedom.

With a cold, blustery and snowy day, hundreds of pro-life Kansans marched in the annual March for Life held in Topeka. January 23^rd marked the 45^th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe vs Wade which made abortion legal in the United States. It was heartwarming to me, even though we had inclement weather, to see so many people show up to support this march, including so many young people.

The Senate adopted a resolution congratulating and commending the regional finalists of the 2018 Kansas Teacher of the Year selections. With more than 100 candidates nominated, Samantha Neill from Buhler Unified School District was selected as the 2018 Teacher of the Year.

Last Monday the amusement/agritourism bill was read in and it has been issued a bill number

S.B. 307, for those of you interested in following this legislation. A time for hearings has not been decided but should be scheduled in the near future. I will let all of the counties with amusement rides know when the hearings will be held. I had a very productive meeting with the House chair of Fed and State, John Barker, and vice chair, Ron Highland concerning changes needed for home owned carnival rides.

The State Finance Council met this week and approved the construction of a new Lansing prison. The vote was originally scheduled for January 4^th but was delayed to allow legislators time to gather information on the plan. Under the approved plan developed by KDOC and CoreCivic, the new facility will have 1,920 maximum and minimum-security beds and 512 medium security beds. Technology and design upgrades will allow the KDOC to reduce staffing from 682 to 371.

This week legislators heard from hospital representatives, district attorneys, county sheriffs and leaders from community health centers about the growing mental health crisis in Kansas. A brief background was explained on how both the state and federal governments have cut funding to mental health over the past 60 years. This has resulted in Kansas emergency rooms and local jails being filled with people needing treatment. S.B. 195 will address some of these issues and should be passed out of community next week.

Next Tuesday, Ag and Natural Resources will be working on S.B. 263, concerning industrial hemp. Many constituents have shared their ideas concerning this legislation and may be interested in attending this meeting.

Hard Facts:

• The Kansas economy grew 2.1% in the third quarter of 2017, missing the expectation of 2.8% growth.

• Since December 2016, Kansas gained 6,300 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs and 8,000 private sector jobs.

Kansas Department of Agricultural reports: Agriculture industry employs nearly 247,000 Kansans accounting for 13% of the state’s workforce.  In 2017 Kansas agriculture was valued at nearly $68 Billion approximately 45% of the Kansas economy.

In his State-of-the-State speech, Governor Brownback proposed five goals for Kansas education. The fifth goal was for Kansas to “…offer every Kansas high school student, at no additional cost to parents, the choice of taking either the ACT college entrance exam or the Work Keys assessment.”

I have seen the bad effects of the gao kao exam in China, the GCSE across the British Commonwealth, and the high school exit exams in Japan and South Korea. These information-laden tests worldwide drive teachers to teach-to-the-test, just as the Kansas state assessments have taken away many teachers’ professionalism in curricular design. This is a major reason many veteran teachers and the best of our new teachers leave the classroom.

But the Governor’s recommendation on the ACT is a good proposal.

In contrast to state tests that turn creative teachers into test-prep drill-masters, the ACT is an aptitude
test, not an achievement test. Questions are designed to measure a student’s aptitude, or ability to apply methods and logic when they confront unique new problems, not their memorization of specific content. So it is difficult to teach-to-the-ACT. The small improvements seen in ACT test-prep sessions are due to familiarizing a student with the test format, and learning techniques we call “test-mechanics.”

The ACT should be provided free to all Kansas students. Currently, 20 states already fund the ACT test for all of their students in their senior year. That list includes neighboring Colorado and Missouri.

But over the last 5 years nationwide, the proportion of high school students aspiring to a college education has dropped by 6 percent. And there are one million fewer American students attending college today than a decade ago, a shortfall currently filled by international students. And for the first time in U.S. history, the five-year post-college cohort of Americans has less college education than the next older five-year generation. Unlike all other developed countries, the United States is becoming a less-educated society.

The 20 states that give the ACT to all high school seniors made one important discovery. Some high school seniors who would not have taken the ACT on their own, and who were not considering attending college, discovered from their ACT scores that they were indeed college-ready and college-able. America needs those students in the college classroom.

So what about the Work Keys assessment? Nationwide over the last five years, the number of students wanting to pursue vocational, technical and two-year degrees increased by 2 percent. America does have a shortage of welders and mechanics and plumbers—jobs that often pay more than a college graduate may earn. The Work Keys focus on applied math, graphic literacy, and workplace documents. But the genuine credentials are welding certificates and other real-life skill documents that are awarded by professions after high school. The generic Work Keys National Career Readiness Certificate is no substitute for the ACT.

But by far, the real benefit of adopting the ACT for every student lies in discontinuing the state assessments. In December 2016, the KSBE received a study that demonstrated the Kansas assessments and the ACT were essentially equivalent.

In addition, the ESSA that replaces No Child Left Behind specifically allows states to use the ACT in place of the high school assessments.

Providing the ACT to all Kansas seniors and ditching the redundant state assessments not only saves money, but begins a long overdue journey back to teacher professionalism, where teachers use unique teaching to educate unique students. Standards and standardized testing may work for quality control on a factory assembly line where raw materials are uniform. But students come to our classes unique and they should graduate out unique.

That was the strength of the American education system and it is time for teacher professional judgement to return to the American classroom. But adding the ACT without ending state assessments just adds more testing to our test-overloaded schools.

And any Kansas farmer knows, the more time you spend weighing them, the less time you have to feed them.

January 29, 2018

Appropriations Committee

Last Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee heard from Alan Conroy, Executive Director the of Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. He provided an update on: 2016 valuation; pension obligation bonds; funding projections; and reamortization.

On Wednesday, the committee received an economic forecast from Michael Austin, Department of Revenue.  He noted that Kansans are optimistic, shown through increased growth in the retail and leisure industries. The housing market is also showing positive results in residential building permits, and home prices. Lastly, Kansas’ consumption is growing at a robust pace.

On Thursday, the Committee received an update from Secretary Tim Keck, Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services, on the recertification effort at Osawatomie State Hospital. With the recertification of Osawatomie, the state may be able to recoup some funding from the federal government.

The Committee also received an update from Secretary Richard Carlson, Kansas Department of Transportation. His testimony included information about State Highway transfers, bonding, revenues, and details on the delayed modernization and expansion projects.

Lansing Correctional Facility

On Wednesday, the State Finance Council, which I am a member, approved a new plan for CoreCivic, to build a new prison at the Lansing Corrections Facility. This facility will be financed under a lease-purchase agreement, in which the state will lease and then own the facility after the 20-year lease. Through the projected reduction in staff of around 46 percent, the state will save enough money to pay the annual lease payments. The facility will be managed by CoreCivic, however, staff would be hired and managed by the United States Department of Corrections.  During the 2017 session and interim, we had numerous meetings and deliberations regarding the construction of a new prison at Lansing.

Governor Brownback Confirmed By US Senate

This past July, President Donald Trump nominated Governor Sam Brownback to the Ambassador At Large for International Freedom position.  After many months, the United States Senate confirmed Governor Brownback on Wednesday, January 24, 2018.

The following day, Governor Brownback issued a press release that he will be resigning as the Governor of Kansas effective January 31, 2018, at 3:00 PM.  Brownback wrote in his resignation that “Wherever my new duties take me, my Kansas values and experience will always travel with me.”

Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer will then take the oath of office with a ceremony in the Kansas State Capitol.  Colyer is currently in the 2018 gubernatorial race.  Colyer’s plans are to visit his hometown of Hays, Kansas and then return to Topeka for the official proceedings.  When the appointment for Brownback was announced, Colyer indicated a different style of governing by saying, “I’ll be working closely with the Legislature and a lot of folks. You’ll see a lot of energy and a little different approach.”

Contact Information

As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, visit www.troywaymaster.com or email me at [email protected].  Also, if you happen to visit the statehouse, please let my office know.

It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions.  I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.