[Kan-ed_members] Kan-ed Funding Alert

[Christina Madden]

Dear Kan-ed Member:

On behalf of the Kan-ed program at the Kansas Board of Regents, I am contacting you regarding the House Appropriations Committee's recent Kan-ed funding debate.  
 
As you may know, the Board of Regents supports the Governor's FY 2009 Kan-ed funding recommendation consisting of $8 million from the Kansas Universal Service Fund (KUSF) and $2 million from the State's General Fund (SGF) - $10 million in total funding.  The House Education Budget Committee recommended that the $2 million in SGF be eliminated and that the $8 million in KUSF funding remain intact.  This morning however, in a close vote, the House Appropriations Committee ultimately decided to remove the entire $10 million Kan-ed budget (both SGF and KUSF funding) from the FY 2009 appropriations bill in order to consider the entire program at Omnibus.
 
Kan-ed provides assistance to over 800 member hospitals, libraries, and schools statewide, and some of these members are located in your district.  Supporting the Governor's budget recommendation will allow Kan-ed to continue to provide your constituents with access to high-speed commercial internet, grants for video conferencing and local area network equipment, and access to research, education, and instructional resources.  These entities would be directly impacted by any decision to reduce Kan-ed's funding.   
 
I might note that in October 2007, the Legislative Division of Post Audit issued a report entitled "Kan-ed: A K-GOAL Audit Determining Whether It's Achieving the Intended Results."  This audit, which can be found on Kan-ed's website at www.kan-ed.org ( http://www.kan-ed.org/ ), answered many of the questions raised in this morning's Committee hearing.  If you can reach out to the House and Senate members in your district, especially if they are on the House Appropriations committee, that would be most helpful.
 
Members of the House Appropriations Committee are as follows:
Rep. Schwartz, Chairperson 
Rep. Tafanelli, Vice-chairperson
Rep Beamer
Rep. Bethell
Rep. George
Rep. M. Holmes
Rep. Kelsey
Rep. Masterson
Rep. McLeland 
Rep. Pottorff 
Rep. Powell
Rep. Watkins
Rep. K. Wolf
Rep. Yoder
Rep. Feuerborn, Ranking Minority Member; 
Rep. Ballard
Rep. Burroughs
Rep. Carlin, 
Rep. Gatewood 
Rep. Henry
Rep. Lane
Rep. Sawyer
Rep. Williams
 
If you need helping finding your legislator, please use this link:
 
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/redistricting.do 
 
The House Appropriations Committee will have an opportunity Friday morning (3/14) to reverse today's negative funding recommendation.  Thank you for your continued support of Kan-ed's FY 2009 budget.  Of course, please contact me directly if I can be helpful in any way.  I can be reached at (785) 296-8729 or at bwilliams at ksbor.org.  Again, thank you for contacting your local legislator about this important program.
 
Sincerely,
 
Brad
Bradley S. Williams, M.S.

Chief Information Officer
Kan-ed Executive Director
Kansas Board of Regents
T:  (785)-296-8729


Chrisy Madden
Membership Services Coordinator
1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520
Topeka KS  66612
785-296-2238
www.kan-ed.org