Commission to host CEO of Kansas Policy Institute for discussion on budget, taxes

Dave Trabert, CEO of the Kansas Policy Institute, is scheduled to speak on the county budget on Wednesday, August 12, at the 4-H Building on the Mound City fairgrounds. (Kansas Policy Institute website graphic)

Journal staff report

MOUND CITY – David Trabert, CEO of the Wichita-based Kansas Policy Institute (KPI), will be making a second appearance in Linn County this year in a talk Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the 4-H Building on the Mound City fairgrounds, 8510 Kansas Highway 7. It starts at 6:30 p.m.

The event sponsored by the Linn County Commission is expected to focus on the county budget and property taxes. All three county commissioners are expected to attend, however, no business will be conducted at the event.

Shawn Thomas, superintendent of Jayhawk USD 346, said on Monday he has been invited to attend. However, he also said that in the past he has clashed with Trabert. Pleasanton superintendent Don Epps is not expected to attend because he is in the middle of a motivational speaking tour across Kansas.

The KPI is a conservative think-tank that is generally not supportive of public school systems

and has given both Jayhawk-Linn and Pleasanton high schools below-average grades.

Commissioner Jim Johnson has also been critical of Linn County's school districts, maintaining that they have fueled the rapid increase in property taxes.

A couple of the remedies that Trabert has suggested to decrease property taxes is for schools within a county to consolidate into a single district and small towns shift to being governed by county government.