TOPEKA, Kan. – On his first full day in office, Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer started with meeting the leadership of both the Republican and Democratic Party.
He sat down with 41 Action News to discuss several topics, including education funding, DCF problems, transparency and the economy.
“I am going to be working on building a consensus, and we are going to be making some hard decisions, but it will take some time though,” Colyer said.
The Supreme Court of Kansas said they were not satisfied with the current funding of public schools.
Before his departure from Kansas, former governor Sam Brownback proposed $600 million dollars in education spending.
Colyer said he is determined to fund schools, without closing any, and without raising taxes.
“I am working with the legislative leadership right now. We will propose some things, and working on guidelines on how we can solve these problems,” Colyer said.
When it comes to the Department for Children and Families, Colyer said he wants a top-to-bottom review of the department.
It has been reported that there are dozens of children who are supposed to be in DCF custody that are missing, and some foster children are sleeping in offices because they can’t find placement.
Colyer recently appointed a new secretary to head the department.
“There are some immediate things we need to do in the budget to make sure kids are not spending the night in the office while waiting for placement. We are going to be working on these things. I don’t see this as there are just a couple little fixes,” Colyer said.
The Kansas legislature has been criticized for an alleged lack of transparency. Colyer said with his leadership, the office of the governor will be more transparent.
“I think the legislature, they are in charge of their body. I will encourage them to have accountability, to have transparency, to embrace those things,” Colyer said.
As Colyer adjusts to his new role, Brownback is doing the same in Washington D.C.
He was sworn in as Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
You can watch the White House’s coverage of that event below.
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