Latest news with #DisabilityAdvocacyDay
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New stadium funding plan for Chiefs, Royals clears Missouri House
Gov. Mike Kehoe speaks during the Disability Advocacy Day rally in the Missouri State Capitol Feb. 26 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Gov. Mike Kehoe's last-minute plan to convince the Chiefs and Royals to stay in Missouri cleared the state House Tuesday, though its fate in the Senate remains murky with only days left before the legislature adjourns for the year.. If lawmakers fail to send the bill to his desk this week, Kehoe said he's ready to call them back to the Capitol for a special session later this year. The bill passed on a 108-40 vote in the House, despite never having been introduced as a formal bill or ever having a public hearing. Instead, it was added as an amendment Tuesday afternoon to a Senate bill pertaining to student athletes. Under the plan, the state would help pay up to half the cost of a new stadium for the Royals and a refurbished Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs, though the overall cost of the plan was not clear as the House was debating the proposal Tuesday. The money would cover annual bond payments for the stadium projects up to the amount a team generated in state tax revenue the year prior to applying for the incentives. 'This is the exact same funding Missouri would lose out on if the teams moved to Kansas,' said state Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican. The teams would also be eligible for up to $50 million in tax credits for investing in their stadiums. A clawback provision would be triggered if either team relocates stadium, headquarters or a training facility to another state. Missouri will keep all of the new state revenue generated by the team for the duration of the program. While a plan floated last week would have been targeted at helping the Royals move to Clay County, Kehoe's proposal would allow the team to decide where it wants to build its new stadium. 'As long as it's in Missouri,' Kehoe said of the new stadium. 'The plan works as long as they stay in Missouri.' Both the Chiefs and Royals have publicly expressed interest in moving from Missouri to Kansas after Jackson County voters rejected a proposal last year to extend a 3/8-cent sales tax to help finance a downtown Kansas City baseball stadium and upgrades to Arrowhead. Kansas lawmakers responded by expanding a tax incentive program in the hopes of convincing one or both teams to relocate. The leases for both teams' Jackson County stadiums run through the end of the 2030 season. 'We live in a world of competition,' Brown said. 'Business to business. State to state. Country to country… We need to compete with Kansas, and we need to compete now.' The Royals and Chiefs are major economic engines for Missouri, said state Rep. David Tyson Smith, a Columbia Democrat. 'We would be crazy to let this team get away from us,' he said. 'I can't believe we even have to debate this.' State Rep. Jim Murphy, a St. Louis County Republican, estimated losing both teams would cost the state $50 million in tax revenue. Instead, the plan presented by the governor would allow Missouri to take that $50 million and invest in the teams. 'We lose that money either way,' he said. Several legislators expressed concerns about the rushed nature of the debate, arguing that the proposal hasn't been properly vetted. 'This is a tough one,' said state Rep. Emily Weber, a Kansas City Democrat, later adding the governor and GOP leadership should have brought everyone to the table sooner. 'I'm extremely disgusted and disappointed with this process,' Webber said. State Rep. Del Taylor, a St. Louis Democrat, said lawmakers shouldn't pass something if they don't know what it will cost. And state Rep. Richard West, a Wentzville Republican, accused the legislature of 'playing Russian roulette with the people's money.' 'This is not a good economic decision,' West said. State Rep. Jeff Coleman, a Grain Valley Republican, said the last-minute nature and the lack of details on the price are concerns he can't ignore. 'I'm a no on this bill,' he said. 'And I'm sad to be, because no one loves the Chiefs more than I do.' Others noted that just last week, House leaders stunned their colleagues and the Senate by refusing to allow a vote on a $500 million spending bill that would have funded projects for health care, education and law enforcement across the state. But state Rep. Keri Ingle, a Lee's Summit Democrat, said that while she shares in the frustration with the House's decision last week, she hoped it wouldn't cost her community its professional sports teams. 'I can talk for hours about what these teams do for the economy of this state and of the Kansas City region,' she said, later adding: 'Please don't punish the Kansas City region and the state of Missouri for generations.' House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, shared in the frustration with how the stadium funding debate has played out. 'We are being asked to provide a vote on something that we have only been able to vet for the last 12 hours, for some of us. Three for others of us. And that's hard. That's hard to do,' she said. 'It's a big ask for the legislature, but I think that when we get 10 years down the line, I don't think any of us wants to be part of a General Assembly that lost the Chiefs or the Royals.' In the end, 40 Democrats joined with 68 Republicans in support, while four Democrats and 36 Republicans voted against. Resentment over the House's decision, however, colored reaction to the stadium proposal in the Senate. 'Seems a little hypocritical to me,' said state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. State Sen. Brian Williams, a University City Democrat, said he can't support stadium funding after the House's decision last week killed so many needed projects across the state. 'If we take care of the most vulnerable Missourians,' he said, 'then we can start talking about helping billionaires keep a stadium in Missouri.' A two-page handout circulated among lawmakers in preparation for Kehoe's Tuesday morning presentation made the case for the incentive package. It claimed the Chiefs generate $28.8 million in annual tax revenue for Missouri and $572.3 million of economic activity within Jackson County alone. The stakes are high, Kehoe said, and Missouri must act — either now, or later this year in a special session. 'It's an economic development proposal… any time the state has seen a major economic development proposal, whether that's been Boeing or GM or Ford, governors of both parties have called special sessions to do that,' Kehoe said. 'I think an economic development proposal on the west side of the state is that significant.' State Sen. Ben Brown, a Washington Republican, said with so little time before adjournment, getting a stadium deal done will be 'a heavy lift.' 'It's going to be tough,' he said. 'But you know, the governor, he's been excellent at forming relationships with people within the legislature, and I know that his opinion carries a lot of weight. So we'll just have to see if it can make it across the finish line before time runs out.' The Independent's Rudi Keller contributed to this story.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri governor's school funding task force assembles slowly
Gov. Mike Kehoe speaks during the Disability Advocacy Day rally in the Missouri State Capitol Feb. 26 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe vowed during his annual State of the State address in January to rewrite the foundation formula, the equation that determines how the state funds public schools. Almost three months later, he has yet to announce his selections for a task force charged with reviewing public school funding and recommending changes. The School Funding Modernization Task Force is his solution to what he sees as a stagnant, dysfunctional formula. The task force aims to rewrite the formula which has not been substantively revised in 20 years. Gabby Picard, spokesperson for the governor, told the Missourian that Kehoe's appointees will be announced in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the legislature has nominated four members to serve on the committee that will reengineer how schools receive state funding. In late February, House Speaker Jon Patterson appointed Reps. Marlene Terry, a Democrat from St. Louis, and Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly. Terry was the first Black member of the Riverview Gardens School Board, where she served in various leadership positions for nine years, including school board president. Lewis worked as a high school educator for 32 years prior to being elected to the House in 2020. He is vice chair of the House subcommittee for education appropriations. Lewis said he has yet to receive communication from Kehoe about his fellow appointees and the task force's timeline. He forecasts the team will be set in motion in a few weeks, near the end of the legislative session. 'It's going to be a lot of work and a lot of time,' Lewis said. 'I don't think you're going to make everybody happy because of the nature of this beast.' Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin appointed Sens. Rusty Black, a Republican from Chillicothe, and Travis Fitzwater, a Republican from Holts Summit. Black spent 33 years as an agriculture educator before being elected to the Senate in 2022. Fitzwater has a background in local politics, small businesses and youth ministry. He and his wife homeschool their three children. O'Laughlin expressed her support for the task force, telling the Missourian an update to the school funding formula was 'long overdue.' According to his executive order creating the task force, Kehoe will appoint a superintendent from a large urban school and one from a small rural school, a teacher, a representative for charter schools, an advocate for school choice and representatives from the business and agricultural sectors. The Missouri State Board of Education will appoint its own representative. The spot reserved for a teacher is not further outlined. The executive order does not detail if the educator is to be from a public, private or charter school, their level of experience or the grades they teach. Todd Fuller, spokesman for the Missouri State Teacher's Association, said he feels the appointed teacher should come from a public school. 'School teachers and public school teachers find themselves underrepresented in these situations,' Fuller said. 'I don't think that's ultimately beneficial to the formula that's created or to the makeup of teachers in our state.' Public school teachers make up the majority of the state's education workforce: 72,000 teachers serve more than 870,000 students in Missouri's public schools. 'If we're not representing public school teachers then we're not reprinting the largest part of the workforce in our state for education and for public education,' Fuller said. Per state law, funds received through the formula must be used primarily to pay teachers' salaries. The executive order mandates representatives from the business and agriculture sectors be included in the task force. Fuller explained the inclusion of these representatives may be an effort to align the formula with the interests of Missouri's rural and urban districts. Seventy percent of school districts in the state are categorized as rural, but combined, these districts serve just 21% of the state's students, according to a study from St. Louis University. The foundation formula aims to factor in cost of living in school districts. In the equation, this is referred to as the dollar value modifier. This modifier provides additional funds to school districts located in areas with a higher cost of living without restricting funds to districts with lower costs of living. To do so, cost of living is determined by dividing the average wage per job of the district's area by the state's median wage. Wages act as a proxy to determine an individual purchasing power in the area. The formula also considers the amount of funds contributed by the district's local community, primarily through property tax. Districts that are located in areas with higher home values, thus generating more property tax, typically receive less state funding. Rural districts usually receive more state funding due to their smaller tax base than populous, urban districts. The current property tax model is frozen at 2005 levels — an attempt to hold the amount of funding a district receives steady as tax rates fluctuate yearly. The freeze is a part of the formula's 'hold-harmless' provision. Since 2007, roughly 200 of the state's 518 districts are ensured to receive at least the amount of funding they did in the 2005-06 school year. Over the past 20 years, Missouri's spending on public education has increased as a dollar amount, but it has shrunk in proportion to total spending. Kehoe proposed a $200 million increase in funding for the foundation formula, bringing the total to more than $4 billion for fiscal year 2026. The proposed increase falls short of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's suggested increase of $500 million. The legislature is in the final stages of settling on fiscal year 2026 funding for the state. Senate leaders last week announced plans to fully fund the foundation formula, despite Kehoe's decision, endorsed by the House, to leave $300 million out of the proposed budget for public schools. A final resolution on the spending will be made by May 9. David Luther, spokesman for the Missouri Association of School Administrators, said his team is in a 'wait-and-see pattern' as the task force is put together. 'To see any kind of major changes would be certainly cause for us to face some different challenges, so we're hopeful that the folks over at the Capitol building can take a look at this and find alternative means to make sure that the foundation formula is fully funded,' he said. The state education department is requesting the money in part to level the state adequacy target — a key multiplier in the foundation formula. The state adequacy target is the minimum amount of funding a student needs to meet basic state requirements. 'The target is kind of the heart of the foundation formula,' Lewis said. 'Having an outside entity or department being able to, by rules they promulgate, change that drastically by one year is definitely one issue about the foundation formula that needs to be addressed. The target is set at $7,145 by the formula for the 2026 fiscal year, but the House adjusted the figure to $6,760. House Democrats' attempts to raise the target were voted down. The Senate decision to add the money means a compromise will need to be worked out between the two chambers. The task force must submit its final report with recommendations for the new funding model to Kehoe by Dec. 1, 2026. This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.
CBS News
26-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Advocates share tips on how to respectfully interact with people who have disabilities
There's a huge chance you or someone you know has some sort of disability. The number of Americans who have disabilities is on the rise. Tuesday is Disability Advocacy Day in Minnesota, so WCCO found out how to respectfully interact with people who have disabilities. Crowds filled the Minnesota Capitol rotunda on Tuesday as they showed the power of people with disabilities. Mao Yang, a loyal WCCO viewer, wears a crown as a conversation piece; she says it makes people see something other than her disability. "I wish that people knew we are just like everyone else," Yang said. "We just want to go out in the community and have jobs and be productive citizens." The number of people with disabilities is growing because of diseases and an aging population. One in four people now have a disability. "When you hear the word disability, what comes to mind? Targets — because people either want to take advantage of us, or they think of us as weaklings," Rochelle Launer said. The community showed their strength, expressing how complicated it was for many to even get to the capitol, saying transportation is huge and so is communication. Krista Jacobson, who has cerebral palsy, says she wishes people would interact with people with disabilities "just like anybody else." "It doesn't matter that I am in a chair. Don't treat me like a little kid," Jacobson said. "Ask them how they are, and then ask them if they mind if you ask why they are in a chair because it's about consent," Yang said. "Don't disregard the disability, but don't just see them as a person with a disability, see them as a person," Launer said. She added not to stare too. "I almost feel like I am at a museum," Launer said. But they recommend seeing and listening. "I am an open book, I want people to understand," Jacobson said. They say their hope is that people will hire more people with disabilities and make more doors and spaces accessible.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
First-ever accessibility coordinator hired at Tennessee State Parks
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee State Parks announced the hiring of the agency's first-ever accessibility coordinator. The announcement came on Tuesday, March 11, which was Disability Advocacy Day in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Disability Coalition. Tennessee State Parks announced Ryan Jolley would take on the role and advise, train and advance projects meant to increase access to outdoor experiences in all state parks. MARCH 2024: All-terrain wheelchairs available at Tennessee State Parks Jolley was reportedly diagnosed with a rare genetic disease at 10 years old and has lived his life legally blind since then. 'I've always been in love with the outdoors and nature and through my work experience in the disability community, I found myself really wanting to assist the state parks in becoming the most accessible state park system in the nation,' Jolley said. ⏩ Nearly 50 state parks across Tennessee have all-terrain wheelchairs, which allow visitors with limited mobility the chance to enjoy otherwise-inaccessible parks. To reserve an all-terrain wheelchair at a park, follow this link. You can follow this link to find a list of wheelchair-friendly paved trails across Tennessee State Parks. 'We are very glad Ryan is joining the team. Tennessee State Parks teammates are making our parks more welcoming and inviting, and that progress will continue as we learn from Ryan and others who personally face access challenges,' said Greer Tidwell, deputy commissioner of TDEC for the Bureau of Conservation. 'We recognize that in order for Tennessee to lead the nation in making the outdoors accessible, we all need to humbly learn from those who experience the outdoors with various abilities.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Making our parks more welcoming and inviting': Tennessee State Parks hires accessibility coordinator
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Tennessee State Parks announced they are hiring their first ever accessibility coordinator. Ryan Jolley will be tasked with improving accessibility in state parks. Left legally blind by a genetic disease at age 10, Jolley served previously in the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development where he worked to improve workplace accommodations and practices for those with disabilities. Cove Lake State Park receives all-terrain wheelchair 'I've always been in love with the outdoors and nature and through my work experience in the disability community I found myself really wanting to assist the state parks in becoming the most accessible state park system in the nation,' Jolley said. TSP announced the hire on Disability Advocacy Day — March 11 — which honors the accomplishments of Tennesseans with disabilities. Several Tennessee sites will be lit blue Tuesday night in observance, a Tennessee government spokesperson said. More ADA accessible trails coming to Tennessee State Parks 'We are very glad Ryan is joining the team. Tennessee State Parks teammates are making our parks more welcoming and inviting, and that progress will continue as we learn from Ryan and others who personally face access challenges,' said Greer Tidwell, deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for the Bureau of Conservation. He continued, 'We recognize that in order for Tennessee to lead the nation in making the outdoors accessible, we all need to humbly learn from those who experience the outdoors with various abilities.' Laurel Falls Trail is closed, here's where to go in the Smokies instead Visit TSP's website to learn how they are making the parks more accessible. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
