Amused by Education Finance Clash

Press Release

Governor Candidate Amused by Education Finance Clash

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gray says that the heated clash over Education Finance between his Democrat and Republican opponents demonstrates why new ideas are needed. "It's amusing that my opponents are going after each others "ideas' when they both are proposing the same thing," said Gray. "When you dig your way through the vague political rhetoric of both establishment candidates you find that they both want to keep doing the same old thing…just with more money and more promises. Kansans have heard it all before, we've tried it all before, and we've seen it fail year after year. It's a shame that Kansans aren't hearing any new ideas."

Gray claims he offers new ideas, especially when it comes to educating the children of Kansas. Gray's team has proposed a comprehensive school choice bill that they say will reduce spending, increase education outcomes, and strengthen public schools. The bill is called the Kansas Education Liberty Act (KELA) and it authorizes specific non-profit organizations to grant scholarships to students to attend a qualified private or public school of their parents' choice. These scholarships are funded through tax-credit eligible contributions from individual Kansans and corporations.

Gray says state taxpayers will spend significantly less on each scholarship than they currently spend per pupil in public schools. In addition, he claims that public schools will still have access to the majority of the federal and local taxpayer funding; so with each student who chooses another educational setting, public schools will have more funding per remaining student. He argues that all Kansas children will enjoy improved education outcomes in both public and private school settings with the increased parental and community involvement that his plan creates.

The lead author of this bill was Lt. Governor Candidate, Stacey Davis. When asked how he knows his team's plan will work, Davis tells us, "It's simple really; we know it will work because it has already worked in other states. The Kansas Education Liberty Act emulates the best characteristics of eighteen different school choice programs already in place in ten states and the District of Columbia. Those existing school choice programs already successfully serve over 171,000 American students. Andrew Gray adds, "We're not reinventing the wheel here, we're just making it better. When we pass this piece of legislation, it will be the model that other states emulate. These are the kinds of new ideas that Kansans are missing out on because of the monopoly of ideas enjoyed by the establishment parties. When our team receives 5% of more of the vote in this race Kansans will have created a third major political party, and having new ideas like this to consider will become the new norm for Kansans."

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