Time with the State Legislature

Tuesday, January 20th found the KTOY team visiting with the House and Senate Education committees about a topic that we are all passionate about: "Keeping Kids First in Kansas". Currently there is a lot of speculation regarding potential cuts to education funding in the state legislative budget. Given a 180 million shortfall, teachers, administrators, business leaders, and legislators need to work together to do what we can to hold "Education Harmless" in the upcoming budget decisions. We as a team were able to share stories from our classrooms regarding our passion for kids and teaching.

We are thankful for the legislative support in the past, and it was nice to see that the support from our legislators is still there. However, some tough decisions appear to be eminent. We are thankful for the opportunity to answer questions and add our insight to the funding issues. We hope and pray that our state political leaders use wisdom and "Keep Kids First in Kansas".

We as a team were also very honored to be recognized in Kansas Senate. Each of our district Senators were able to recognize us individually as the Senate passed a resolution honoring the 2009 KTOY Team and our Kansas Teacher of the Year, Cindy Couchman from Buhler High School. We look forward to more opportunities to dialogue with the Senate and House committees and invite any questions that you have to our team.

If you would like to listen to each one of our Team member's address to the legislature, click on the "posts" under podcasts. You can then select which team member you would like to listen to.

Thanks,
Walt Cochran, KTOY Finalist
Gardner Edgerton USD 231