Category: Blog

School Finance Plan Passes Over the Weekend Shortly before midnight on Saturday, the Senate passed the House’s $525 million, five-year K-12 funding proposal. Earlier in the week, the Senate had passed its own package which spent approximately $275 million on schools. As time was running out on the 2018 regular session and lawmakers face a court deadline to pass a school finance plan by April 30, the maneuvering to get the plan passed was intense. The bill will now go to Governor Jeff Colyer, who was indicated he is pleased with the $525 million plan and believes the state can pay for it without raising taxes. Republicans have expressed concerns… Read More

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Nextaff is your resource for quality candidates.  Nick Lauber, owner of the Topeka Nextaff office, has 10 years of experience in the staffing industry and offers his clients quality service and support. With Nextaff, the focus is on the value of the positions being filled and the needs of its clients.  Services include temp-to-hires, direct hires, screening services, skills assessment and testing, as well as a fast-track program that provides compensation for employee benefits for a probational period to fast track the employee into that company’s payroll. Nick and his team also offer consulting services on how to approach the labor pool, wage analysis and marketing reports and data.   As a locally… Read More

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School Finance Is At Hand Last Wednesday, the House K-12 Education Budget Committee passed-out a school finance bill.  Basically, this is the moment everyone has been waiting for. The bill increases funding for K-12 schools by approximately $520 million over five years.  School districts would see an additional $73 million next fiscal year and roughly $105 million each of the following four years. This would be on top of the nearly $200 million in increased school spending legislators approved last year. The plan includes significant increases for special education and other areas over which the Kansas Supreme Court had expressed concern in its ruling last year. House leaders are hopeful… Read More

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Robert (Bob) Faught holds two distinct roles within his joint career as the district sales coordinator for Aflac and president and co-founder of Quality of Life, Inc. He is both an advocate and an educator. After spending nearly 35 years experiencing and resolving joint pain, Bob was inspired to write a book about his experience, entitled Our Joint Decisions: A Patient’s Perspective to Successfully Manage Joint Pain, Surgeries & Replacements.  Although the book chronicles Bob’s path to healing, focusing on a “mind over body” outlook, he asserts that this approach can be applied to any struggle in one’s life. Inspired by the role of education in quality of life, Bob… Read More

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Self-Serve Beer Bill Advances Last Thursday, the Senate passed a bill which legalizes the self-service of beer in Kansas.  That same day, the House Federal and State Affairs Committee held a hearing on the bill. Representatives of Brew Bank, Downtown Topeka, Inc. and the Topeka Chamber all spoke in favor of the legislation and discussed how this modernization in Kansas liquor laws will help communities across the state tap into their local entrepreneurial spirit and develop the kinds of attractive social settings today’s mobile workforce demands. The committee heard the testimony, discussed the bill briefly and then passed it on to the full House. The team advocating for this bill… Read More

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Force One Security and Consulting is unlike many other security guard service in northeast Kansas, in that is owned and operated by police officers. Owner Lamont Semien has 20 years of experience in law enforcement under his belt and currently serves as a police officer full-time at the Mission, KS and part-time at Westwood, KS. As this experience has made him well qualified and certified in areas of law enforcement and personal security, Lamont is adamant that his security officers possess professional backgrounds with the police department, military or in another field of security service. Force One’s mission is to provide the best security information and physical security to protect… Read More

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Finally, School Finance On Friday, lawmakers finally got a chance to start reviewing the education study they commissioned late last year. They were hoping the study would help them build and fund a constitutional K-12 school funding formula in response to the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision last year that the state’s funding of schools is neither adequate nor equitable. The study provides a range of cost options depending on how ambitious the state chooses to be in generating improved student outcomes.  The low end of the scale would require the state to spend $451 million, or 10%, more each year.  On the other end, if the state wants to produce… Read More

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With almost 20 years of real estate experience between the two, Wade and Abbey Wostal are committed to supporting you during what might be one of your most important decisions in your life. Let Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wostal Realty help guide you during the home buying or selling process. In 2017, Wostal Realty partnered Better Homes and Gardens to better serve their shared mission of providing the residents of Northeast Kansas with quality home realty. Better Homes and Gardens offer various resources to its clients. Buyers can benefit from downloading the Better Homes and Gardens Wostal Realty app which allows the user to see a live… Read More

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Sola Salon Studios is a leading innovator in the concept of salon suites. Sola allows beauty professionals to pursue their craft and find success as business owners without facing many of the risks and challenges that come from owning a conventional salon. When you lease your studio space with Sola, you have the freedom to customize your own studio, set your own schedule, and manage your own clientele. Each available salon suite is move-in ready and comes complete with daylight lights, soundproof doors, tool cabinets, and supplementary equipment crucial to your salon and spa needs. In addition to utilizing the Sola’s leading-edge facilities, Business owners also receive quality support and… Read More

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    MidWest Barber College is Topeka’s leading educational center for barbers. The school originally opened in 2011 and reopened in 2015 under the ownership of Lucy Opit, a seasoned hair care professional, barber and business owner. Accredited through the Kansas Board of Regents, MidWest Barber College offers a 1,500 credit hour program that provides students training in the field of barbering and further prepares them for licensure. MidWest’s curriculum is diversified and includes textbook and theory coursework as well as hands-on labs. In addition to up-to-date classrooms and lab rooms, the college’s facilities provide state of the art equipment as well as several special features to help cultivate the… Read More

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