Public Policy and the Two States of Kansas - pocketboek

How does the state of Kansas spend its revenue? What is the state government doing with it and why? Investigating these and related questions, the contributors in this book address the most pressing public policy issues confronting Kansas today. They survey general revenue and demographic issues and then analyze the five policy areas - education, prisons, transportation, welfare, and health that consume 84.3% of the state budget and that, in terms of both cost and controversy, rank highest on the stated policy agenda. Emerging from this analysis is the disturbing consensus that Kansas is an increasingly divided state: one urban, younger and wealthier; the other rural, older and poorer. Managing the policy problems of such a state has become much more difficult and has resulted in virtually "impossible jobs" for the people charged with implementing approved policies. Responding to these problems, the authors offer ways to simplify the issues and suggest policy changes that could improve the well-being of all Kansans.