“Rep. Merrick did an excellent job of representing Johnson County schools.”

-Overland Park Chamber of Commerce, March 3, 2006

As the school finance debate continues, I have been fighting in the House to bring more accountability to our finance model. Currently we allocate more money to schools for students "at risk" who supposedly underpeform. However, instead of tying this money to their performance, we tie it to their poverty level. In Blue Valley this leaves 3900 students who do not meet the "poverty" requirement yet underperform. In other words, we're redistributing Johnson County's tax dollars across the state without taking care of our own.

The Overland Park Chamber reported (here) how the commitee debate has been proceeding:

"Keep in mind the House Select Committee does not have significant representation from Johnson County. Our sole Representative on the committee is Rep. Ray Merrick (Speaker Pro Tem, R- Stillwell). Rep. Merrick did an excellent job of representing Johnson County schools throughout the two days of hearings. A representative from the Ashland District said that the Committee should consider eliminating correlation weighting, and that wealthy districts are receiving too much money. A representative of rural school districts testified that the plan did not do enough, even though the Legislative Post Audit study revealed many of the small districts were receiving too much money. Rep. Merrick challenged these contentions throughout the hearing, laying a solid groundwork with the committee for significant changes to benefit our local districts. Even though Rep. Merrick is in House leadership, this plan was created without his input, and he will be able to help deliver our message to the rest of the House leadership."