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January 2017

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IN THIS ISSUE

hornet alumni
higher ed budget request
esu's nursing need
Gold square about Emporia State
Gold square connect with legislators
Gold square what can you do?
Gold square kansas legislature 2017
by 
dr. michael smith
Gold square final thoughts



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CALENDAR:

January 9: 2017 Kansas Legislative Session Commences

February 23: Turn Around Day

April 7: Drop Dead Day / First Adjournment

April 9-April 30: Break

May 1- (TBD): Veto Session

Sine Die: TBA

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CONTACT US: 

Brian Denton
Legislative Liaison
Campus Box 4001
1 Kellogg Circle
Emporia, KS 66801


Tyler Curtis
Exec. Dir. of Alumni
Campus Box 4047
Alumni Assoc.
1500 Highland St.
Emporia, KS 66801

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MAKE AN IMPACT:

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EXCELLENCE IN ACTION:


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SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE:

Check out the latest edition of Spotlight online!

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TRAVEL WITH HORNETS:

To learn about all the exciting, upcoming Hornet Trips, click here.

ESU President Allison Garrett will be hosting a Hornet trip to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco on June 19-July 2, 2017.  To learn more, click here.

Upcoming 2017 trips include:

Panama Canal Cruise (Jan 18-Feb 3)



President's Tour of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (June 19-July 2)


3 National Parks, Canyons, & Colors (Sept 23-30)


Grand Hawaii Cruise (Dec 3-19)



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ESU LINKS:

Campus News & Events

Emporia State Athletics

Offsite/Distance Education


Learn more about the Emporia State University Alumni Association and the Emporia State University Foundation.

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Greetings, Hornets, and Happy New Year!

This is the first Hornets for Higher Ed newsletter of the year, and we have a new look. Advocacy is a key tenet of the Hornet Nation initiative.  Thank you for serving as an advocate for higher education. 

The 2017 session starts on Monday, January 9, and we already have a lot to report. So...Let's Get This Party Started!     

First, I’d like to welcome our new and returning Hornet alumni to the Kansas Legislature*!

House

  • Representative Lonnie Clark (R-Junction City)
  • Representative Stephanie Clayton (R-Overland Park)
  • Representative Ronald Ellis (R-Meridan)
  • Representative Stan Frownfelter (D-Kansas City)
  • Representative Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita)
  • Representative Jim Kelly (R-Independence)
  • Representative Vic Miller (D-Topeka)
  • Representative Mark Schreiber (R-Emporia)
  • Representative Susie Swanson (R-Clay Center)
  • Representative Ed Trimmer (R-Winfield)

Senate

  • Senator Edward Berger (R-Hutchinson)
  • Senator John Doll (R-Garden City)
  • Senator Bruce Givens (R – El Dorado)
  • Senator Jeff Longbine (R-Emporia)
  • Senator John Skubal (R-Overland Park)

Congratulations to the following Hornets on earning leadership roles*:

Senate

  • Senator John Doll (R-Garden City) - Vice Chair, Transportation
  • Senator Jeff Longbine (R-Emporia) - Vice President of the Kansas Senate; Chair, Financial Institutions and Insurance

House

  • Representative Lonnie Clark (R-Junction City) - Vice Chair, Veterans and Military
  • Representative Stephanie Clayton - Vice Chair, Social Services Budget Committee 
  • Representative Stan Frownfelter - Assistant Leader of the Kansas Democratic Caucus; Vice Chair, Social Services Budget 
  • Representative Dan Hawkins - Chair, Health & Human Services
  • Representative Jim Kelly (R-Independence) - Chair, Financial Institutions and Pensions
  • Representative Vic Miller (D-Topeka) - Ranking Minority, Elections
  • Representative Susie Swanson - Vice Chair, Higher Education Budget
  • Representative Ed Trimmer - Whip for the Kansas Democratic Caucus; Ranking Minority member, K-12 Education Budget 

Thank you all for your service to the State of Kansas!

Like last year, state revenues have not been as robust as needed to balance the current budget, and the State of Kansas is facing revenue shortfalls virtually every month.  Shortfalls for the current fiscal year are estimated to be at least $340M million, and projected shortfalls for both FY 17 and FY 18 exceed $800M conservatively. Thus, we anticipated difficulty in securing additional funds from the State. 

Regardless, Kansas must continue to invest in infrastructure to grow, compete, and provide critical services for our citizens.  K-12 and higher education are critical to our state’s future.  ESU’s first priority is to restore the $855K that was cut last year from our university’s state allocation.  KBOR and ESU seek full restoration of the cuts made to higher ed in 2016.

Speaking of crucial needs and infrastructure, health care and nurses are critical - especially in rural areas - and ESU's program is the highest-ranked nursing program in the State of Kansas.  More information about ESU’s continued need to fund its nursing program is below. 

We need your support to advance the higher ed agenda, Hornets.

Below we have included some information about what you can do to help us advocate for higher ed and ESU.  We’ve included some general information about the university in addition to some specific actions you can take to advocate and support higher ed.  Does your community host opportunities to visit with legislators?  We would love to know, and please share those details with us so we can share them with the rest of you. 

We’ve saved the best for last, Hornets, and this edition of our newsletter features another article from Dr. Michael Smith, associate professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.  Dr. Smith is a talented instructor and prolific writer.  In this article, he offers a forecast of the legislative session ahead.  Follow him on Twitter at @MuphdSmith to keep up with all of his work regarding government and politics.  Special thanks to Dr. Smith for taking time to share this article with our readers. 

Thank you for serving as a Hornet for Higher Ed.  As always, Go Hornets!

Yours for ESU,

Tyler 

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Higher Ed Budget Request

Last year was a tough year financially for Kansas universities.  For FY 16, the Kansas Board of Regents took a 3% cut mid-year, which ended up amounting to a $650,000 cut to ESU.  For FY 17, KBOR was cut by 4%, which amounted to a $855,000 cut to ESU.  Due to these funding cuts, the previously imposed cap to tuition (2% + CPI, which would have been 2.1% for the upcoming fiscal year) was been removed.  KBOR and ESU’s top legislative priority is to restore these cuts.     

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ESU’s Nursing Need

As mentioned above, ESU is still in need of $500,000 for the nursing program.  This is not a new need, as it was ESU’s #1 legislative priority during the previous two years.  As a reminder of this issue’s background, from 1990 to 2013 the nursing program was funded by Newman Regional Health (NRH) with Medicare pass-through dollars.  NRH also provided Medicare pass-through funding from 1920 to 1990 when the program was diploma based.  However, changes to Medicare laws (note: the changes were not tied to the Affordable Care Act), NRH was no longer able to continue funding with this source.

For the last three years, ESU has been fortunate enough to obtain generous bridge funding from the Walter S. & Evan C. Jones Testamentary Trust and the Humphrey’s Trust. While Newman Regional Health is still providing the physical location and helping maintain the facility, ESU needs to seek funding to sustain staffing and programming.

ESU Nursing Facts:

1.     ESU’s nursing program is the highest ranked program in the State of Kansas.

2.     Over 90% of ESU’s graduates serve as nurses in Kansas, and many of those serve in rural hospitals and clinics.

3.     Nursing is one of the fastest growing professions in Kansas and the United States.

4.     ESU Nursing is the only four-year program in Kansas that receives no state funding.    

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About Emporia State University

Emporia State University aims to change lives for the common good by preparing students for lifelong learning, rewarding careers, and adaptive leadership.  As a key economic driver for the Lyon County region, ESU makes a $330 million economic impact annually and offers comprehensive academic programs, such as: 

- ESU’s teacher preparation program is hailed as one of the best teacher preparation programs in the nation, and our graduating teachers influence the future of thousands of students each year;

- Emporia State is also home to an AACSB accredited School of Business, an accreditation held by less than 5% of business schools throughout the world;

- ESU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences encompasses many award-winning programs, including the Department of Nursing, whose graduates scored a 93.9% passage rate on the latest NCLEX exam, which is well above the national average.  Nursing major Adam Tebben was named ‘16-‘17 president of the 60,000-member National Student Nurses’ Association; and

- One-third of ESU’s student body is comprised of graduate students, and Emporia State’s graduate programs are ranked among the best online programs in Kansas.

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Local Opportunities to Connect with Legislators

Our Hornets for Higher Ed are everywhere.  Does your local community host opportunities to visit with legislators in your home districts?  Simply respond to this message with the date, time, and location for these meetings and we’ll share them with your fellow Hornets for Higher Ed!

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What can you do?

You may be wondering what you can do to advocate for higher education.  In addition to staying connected via the Hornets for Higher Education, here are a few suggestions:

· sign up to receive your legislators’ e-mail newsletter;
· follow your legislators on Facebook and / or Twitter;
· contact your legislator(s);
· attend local legislative coffees, “Eggs & Issues” sessions and other events typically hosted by groups such as the Chamber of Commerce or League of Women Voters—introduce yourself as a Hornet and higher ed advocate and get to know legislator(s).

With an election in the fall, the profile of the Kansas House of Representatives has changed and there have been some major changes in the Kansas Senate, too.  Here are some helpful links:

Kansas House of Representatives
Kansas House Leadership
Kansas Senate
Kansas Senate Leadership
Legislative Committees

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“Kansas Legislature 2017:  The Return of Three-Party Politics” by Michael Smith, Ph. D, Associate Professor of Political Science

What can Emporia State and the Hornet Nation expect from this year’s session of the Kansas Legislature?

Clearly, the balance of power has shifted.  Moderate Republicans and Democrats both made gains in last year’s elections, and they will be doing some muscle-flexing over the budget, education funding, and possibly other issues such as concealed-carry on campuses.  Still, the budget hole is a deep one, and the solutions will not come easily.

Moderate Republicans—some going so far as to put “stop Brownback” on their yard signs next to the Republican elephant—defeated conservatives in several contested primary races.  Their gains were particularly strong in Johnson County, where they ran as a bloc, hammering on the popular issue of public school funding and gaining grassroots backing from groups like the Mainstream Coalition.  However, moderates also took down some rural Brownback supporters.

Locally in Emporia, we will see some new faces but not a major ideological shift.  Representative-elect Mark Schreiber (R-Emporia) was endorsed by the retiring Don Hill and supports a similar brand of moderate Republicanism.  Schreiber will enjoy having more moderate allies in the Legislature than Hill did.  Southern Emporia lies in the 76th District, where the newly-elected Representative Eric Smith (R-Coffey County) will replace Peggy Mast, who endorsed him.  Both take a fiscally and socially conservative approach to policymaking.  Mast had been the Speaker Pro-Tem.  Senator Jeff Longbine (R-Emporia) was re-elected, and will be moving into leadership.

The mod squad wasted no time demonstrating their ability to cut deals, having cast their votes for a conservative Speaker of the House (Ron Ryckman, Jr., R-Olathe) and the re-election of Senate President Susan Wagle (R-Wichita) only after capturing several key committee appointments and other leadership spots.  The new leadership includes Longbine, who secured the Senate Vice-Presidency.  Emporia State alumna, Rep. Stephanie Clayton (R-Overland Park), is another moderate leader and a strong critic of the Brownback administration.  Clayton won key committee appointments this year, including Vice-Chair of Social Services Budget. 

Democrats also saw changes this year.  After gaining several House seats and one in the Senate, the Democrats will be led by a mix of old and new.  The passionate Jim Ward (D-Wichita) replaces Tom Burroughs (D-Kansas City) as House Minority Leader, while Senate Democrats re-elected long-serving Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) as their Minority Leader.  Ward and Hensley are both Brownback critics, but they take different approaches.  Ward says that Democrats need to be a part of any deals made regarding the budget, while Hensley has long argued that Republicans created the budget mess, so they should be the ones to fix it. 

If Democrats offer their votes for a budget fix and a new school base funding formula, they will expect something in return.  Any talk of a moderate-Democrat coalition will be tested when a new K-12 funding formula is written.  Mods now represent many of the state’s wealthiest districts in Johnson County, and they will want a generous Local Option Budget, allowing their districts to use local property wealth to self-fund their schools.  Democrats represent inner-city communities in Kansas City, Wichita, and Topeka: they will want schools all to get money from the same statewide pot, with less reliance on property taxes.

What does all of this mean for Emporia State?  Unfortunately, happy days are not yet here again.  Even if tax fixes pass, they will not take effect fast enough to avoid mid-year budget recessions (called “allotments” in Kansas), and our budget is going to take a hit.  Fortunately, we are led by a strong budget team, who has budgeted conservatively for several years.  Our top priority is to protect our core mission by preserving faculty lines whenever possible so we can continue to provide the courses, advising, and high-impact learning opportunities our students deserve.  However, some long-term plans and open faculty lines may be put on hold for the time being.  Scholarships for students are also funded, thanks in large part to the university’s generous alumni and friends.

Longer-term, the most popular tax change is closing the pass-through loophole for self-employed individuals who incorporate as LLC’s.  Alas, this would only raise about a third of the money needed to close current and future budget shortfalls, and even that is based on this year’s bare-bones budget.  With a court ruling on K-12 school funding due soon, closing the LLC loophole will not be enough to get the job done.  The ascendant mods and Democrats will now be part of the solution, but they will have to make tough choices and cannot be expected to give up their votes without gaining benefits for their home districts in return. 

One possible reprieve for ESU?  Some legislative conservatives have advanced a budget-cutting formula for universities based upon an institution’s entire budget, including outside grants.  This makes the cuts fall particularly hard on KU, K-State, and Wichita State—not good for the state’s research climate, but it does spare ESU some of the pain. However, it is not clear how this will work with the new balance of power, and besides, ESU benefitting from KU, K-State, and Wichita State’s losses creates a zero sum game that is not in the long-term best interest of higher education in the state. 

Finally comes the impending change in the state’s constitutional carry gun laws that will affect Emporia State.  Put simply, Kansans are no longer required to submit to a background check, obtain a permit, or get training before carrying a concealed handgun, and state campuses will no longer be exempt from this policy starting July 1, 2017.  Many faculty and students at ESU and the other campuses are wary, but it is not yet clear if changes are in the works. 

In sum, these changes mean the return of three-party politics in 2017.  No longer will one faction—Governor Brownback and his supporters—have the votes to push change after change through the Kansas Legislature.  Instead, the three party dynamic (conservative, moderate, and Democrat) is back.  To solve the deepening budget hole and address education, concealed-carry, and a host of other issues, deliberation must take place and deals must be cut.  There will be a lot of pain, but for those of us who enjoy the political bargaining process, there is also a lot of excitement in the air.

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Final Thoughts

As always, thank you for your continued support and advocacy for ESU and higher education.  We appreciate your efforts to build support for ESU and higher ed at the Kansas Statehouse and beyond.  If you have any questions, please contact Brian Denton, Emporia State’s Legislative Liaison, or Tyler Curtis, Executive Director of Alumni Relations.  Thank you for serving as a Hornet for Higher Ed.

* We apologize in advance if anyone was omitted from the lists above.  Please accept our apology and let us know if anything is listed incorrectly or omitted.

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This message has been sent to you by the Alumni Association of Emporia State University in partnership with ESU Governmental Relations.