Inside Kansas’ yearly budget, tectonic choices await lawmakers. How will they make our state better?

House Speaker Dan Hawkins prepares for the Jan. 12, 2026, launch of the legislative session. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

They’re just numbers.

It’s just a budget. Boring finance stuff. All that math hurts my head.

You’ll hear phrases like these if you spend time following state government. One of its biggest purposes — if not its single-most important — consists of spending money for schools, roads and other public services. But budgets sound dull. Dealing with columns of figures puts many Kansans to sleep. It’s understandable.

It’s also dangerous. 

As I learned during my years in the nonprofit world, budgets are moral documents. What you choose to spend money on reveals what you prioritize. What you choose to cut reveals what you dismiss.

Just look at funding for public schools and universities.

Educational institutions with more resources can offer students more programs, more skilled teachers and more enrichment opportunities. Schools with fewer resources struggle to cover the basics. Kansans grasp this. Many move to Johnson County and other privileged communities for “good schools” supported by property taxes.

If the state doesn’t support public schools and universities adequately, what kind of judgment does it make about our state’s children and young adults? What kind of judgment does it make about our society and our future?

The Kansas Legislature’s annual budget debate is set to kick off with a Monday hearing. I urge you to pay attention, to actively track where the money goes. Watch what lawmakers actually do with the billions of dollars that comprise our state budget. Are they using those dollars to support the people of Kansas — especially those most in need of assistance — or are they handing out freebies to favored groups?

You will hear one claim at some moment that they have to go along with a cut they don’t like or a long-term reduction they hope to reverse in the future. Treat them with the utmost skepticism.

Every lawmaker, Republican and Democrat, conservative and liberal, has free will. They have the ability to choose. They will all make moral judgments in the days and weeks ahead. Let’s see what they do. 

 

Kansas House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard (seated, left) and Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes (seated, right) talk with reporters Thursday. (Photo by Clay Wirestone/Kansas Reflector)

Higher education chatter

I dropped by the weekly press conference held by House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard and Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, both Lenexa Democrats, on Thursday. The two chatted with reporters about the budget rush (see above) and life in the opposition party.

One question raised was whether the Legislature would take dramatic steps to reduce spending. And by dramatic, I mean closing Emporia State University.

Woodard told me in a follow-up email: “There has been talk of that my whole time in the legislature, but I haven’t seen any action steps to actually make that a reality. I think with a new leader, they can restore the faith and enrollment in Emporia State University.”

As I wrote last month, let’s hope thats true.

Former Emporia State president Ken Hush, meanwhile, has been brought on as a budget consultant for the Legislature. But Woodard told the assembled reporters Thursday that he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the man.

“As one of his eight bosses, I haven’t had a conversation with him since they allegedly hired him for $10,000 a month,” the House minority leader said. “I haven’t seen him in any of the budget committees.”

I have spotted Hush hurrying through the Statehouse hallways, but apparently he wasn’t going to meet Democrats.

Woodard told me he hoped lawmakers would soon have a broader conversation about Kansas higher education. That doesn’t mean closing Emporia State, but it could mean considering tough steps. As demographics change and fewer students enroll, problems will inevitably follow.

 

Gov. Laura Kelly takes a selfie with Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau and other lawmakers at the annual state of the state speech. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Friendlier vibe detected

I’ve detected a slightly different tone at the Kansas Statehouse this session. Maybe the upcoming primary and general elections are the cause, maybe folks have just showed up with different dispositions.

In either case, I’ve noted a generally lower temperature and slightly friendlier vibe. This doesn’t mean the Legislature will get around to serving everyday Kansas anytime soon, mind you, but perhaps that accelerated schedule and a desire to avoid looking like extremists in front of voters has sanded the rough edges off a handful of legislators.

Budget hearings this week will be a test, as will the ongoing partisan shadowboxing in Rep. Pat Proctor’s House Elections Committee. Can even lower-key lawmakers restrain themselves when the chance to undercut Democrats or poor people arises?

We’ll all have to wait and see.

 

Kansas Reflector staff, from left, Anna Kaminski, Clay Wirestone, Sherman Smith, Morgan Chilson and Tim Carpenter gather for a staff portrait. (Photo by Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)

Kansas Reflector funding

The question of how Kansas Reflector is funded comes up every year or two. We’ve always been open and honest about the process, but in case you haven’t heard our explanation before, here it is.

We’re part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit devoted to providing state news coverage of issues that otherwise would go underreported, or unreported. When Kansas Reflector launched on July 21, 2020, we were the organization’s 18th outlet. States Newsroom now oversees newsrooms in 39 states and has content-sharing agreements with nonprofits in the other 11. In other words, we have boots on the ground in every state of the nation.

Based in North Carolina, States Newsroom handles high-level fundraising and human resource duties for all of these outlets. You can read our parent’s tax returns and browse a list of everyone who has contributed more than $1,000 at statenewsroom.com/support.

If you want to know more about the organization, feel free to read these pieces from The Washington Post and the Columbia Journalism Review.

In recent years, Kansas Reflector has focused more on local fundraising. In 2025, we’re proud to say that we brought in a record amount from folks across the state, who donated an average of $38 apiece. In total, you all contributed an amount that equates to about 40% of our yearly budget.

Folks at the town halls we’ve held across the state sometimes ask how solid we feel about our funding model and our future.

The answer? We feel good about both.

Admittedly, the news media faces challenges from every front. But as long as we do our jobs to the best of our ability, and as long as Kansans support our work as strongly as they have in recent years, I expect us to be around for a long time to come.

Kansas lawmakers should take note.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.