© 2021
In touch with the world ... at home on the High Plains
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Estes takes aim at using water rights tax to finance public schools

Wikimedia Commons

TOPEKA – Sen. Bud Estes, R-Dodge City, will try to ax a proposed $120 annual charge to water right owners to finance public schools.

“It has nothing to do with utility bills,” Estes said at the Monday afternoon meeting of the Senate Select Committee on Education Finance.

Senate Bill 251 contains the Senate’s proposed school finance formula and it would levy a $2.25 monthly charge on residential water, electric and natural gas bills. For non-residential customers, the monthly charge would be $10 on each of the three utilities.

The owner of a water right for irrigation purposes would pay $120 annually.

When committee members bring amendments to the bill in the meeting Tuesday, Estes said he would have one to remove all the language pertaining to water right owners and irrigation.

Estes and fellow committee member Sen. Dan Goddard, R-Parsons, hope to eliminate another portion of the bill raising concern in their home districts that extend to the Kansas-Oklahoma border. In Senate Bill 251, Kansas school districts could accept out-of-state students, but would not be able to continue to count them in their official enrollment.

Goddard said he’s requested an amendment to change that. He said he has five school districts that border on Oklahoma and “all say that would really, really hurt them.”

Estes said the Meade, Liberal and Ashland school districts similarly would be affected.

There are 624 out-of-state students attending Kansas schools, according to Kansas Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Dale Dennis. He didn’t know the number of Kansas children attending school in other states.

Goddard said in some cases, the children’s parents work in Kansas or even in the Kansas school district.

“I think this is a difficult issue,” said committee member Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, urging committee member to think it through.

The state is looking at ways of funding Kansas schools, and it needs to let USDs decide if they want to continue to take students from out of state, she said.

Estes also said he wanted tax credit scholarships to enable students to attend non-public schools to remain as is, instead of becoming more restrictive.