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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_9432.jpg?resize=790%2C527\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHammond said Hays Med alone loses over $5 million a year because we haven\u2019t had Medicaid expansion. This is in addition to another $2.5 million in losses from other health care offices. Hays Med also does not currently qualify for prescription drug discounts, which costs the community $10 million every year in additional costs per prescription.
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\u201cIf you consider that my opponent\u2019s been in office for four years, you\u2019re looking at an economic impact in our community of $70 million,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cStop and think about what $70 million in our economy here could mean for our community.\u201d
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Hammond also said K-12 education is disadvantaged due to a lack of Special Education funding. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled the legislature must \u201cadequately fund\u201d K-12 education. This is defined as 92 percent of costs being covered by the state and 8 percent of costs being covered globally.
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\u201cWhat they (legislators) don\u2019t tell you is they also turned around and voted for 50 percent funding of special ed in some other areas,\u201d Hammond said.
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State and federal law require schools to provide special education, and therefore the lack of special education funding forces schools to transfer money from their operations to cover those costs.
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In Hays, special education is provided not just to public schools, but the school board also provides special education for advanced and at-risk students at Holy Family Elementary and TMP.
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\u201cOur school board makes the decision not to charge the private schools for those services,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cWe\u2019re the only community that I know of in the state of Kansas that does not charge.\u201d
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Hammond said this is done to not disadvantage students who want to attend a parochial school.
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\u201cWe don\u2019t want to disadvantage those students any more than we want to disadvantage the students attending the public schools,\u201d Hammond said.
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USD 489 needs to transfer $1.5 million a year from their \u201coperating budget\u201d that is fully funded over to special education which is not being fully funded.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fort Hays State University is also underfunded according to Hammond. University funding used to be based on a formula funding model where funding was distributed based on the number of credit hours taught. At the turn of the century, the state went towards a block grant. Initially, the block grant was based on the previous formula using the enrollments of 1999-2000.
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\u201cThey then did it again the next year, the next, the next year, the next year, and they never changed that formula or those numbers,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cSo while Fort Hays was serving maybe 5600 students in 1999-2000, we then grew to serving 15,000 students, but we didn\u2019t get a bigger share of that block grant.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, Fort Hays State served 18,827 students and served a full-time equivalency of about 10,827. Wichita State served 19,000 students, and served about 11,800 full-time equivalents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fort Hays received $39.4 million in funding. Wichita State received $84 million.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI believe we should be getting 16 percent of the money because we are teaching 16 percent of the students, and we\u2019re currently getting nine,\u201d Hammond said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wichita State receives 17 percent of the funding which aligns with Hammond\u2019s calculations.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hammond said his opponent wants to cut back on funding because enrollments are decreasing.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, I think that\u2019d be fair, if they gave us more money every time we grew, but they\u2019re still treating us like we were an institution of less than 6000 students,\u201d Hammond said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These policies impact many constituents in District 111.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you look at the hospital, the university and the USD, that\u2019s the three largest employers in my opponent\u2019s district, and yet she\u2019s gone out of her way to disadvantage them,\u201d Hammond said, \u201cThat\u2019s not advocating for our community.\u201d
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Amy Bergman decided to volunteer for Hammond\u2019s campaign because she believed Hammond would be that advocate for the community and accomplish what he says he will.
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\u201cI like what he\u2019s running for and standing for and that he recognizes what\u2019s missing and what\u2019s not being done by our current representative,\u201d Bergman said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bergman also noted that initiatives like Grow Hays or Imagine Ellis County are less successful if our communities are not supported by our representatives.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the point if our representatives aren\u2019t fighting for us as well?\u201d Bergman said. \u201cEd will do that.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hammond will be in the Wild West Fest parade this Saturday and then at 10 a.m. on July 7, Hammond will be at the entrance of the Center for Health Improvement talking more about the benefits of expanding Medicaid.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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