While private school students filled the rotunda of the Kansas Statehouse on Tuesday for a rally in support of school choice, top Republican legislators don’t plan to make it a priority this session because they don’t have enough votes.
Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, are vocal supporters of school choice legislation.
But they also have acknowledged the political realities in Kansas, where Republicans can muster only slim GOP majorities in the Legislature and are far away from the supermajorities needed to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Because of that, Masterson and Hawkins don’t plan to put as much effort behind school choice legislation this year.
“I only got 65 votes last year,” Hawkins said about the House, where 63 is a simple majority and 84 is a supermajority. “And nothing’s changed. So I’m not going to get more than 65 votes this year.”
“We both have simple majorities,” Masterson said. “We wouldn’t have supermajorities.”