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rnday, January 25, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Proposal addresses teenagers
By Vanessa Fuhrmans
Kansas staff writer
A proposed program designed to reduce teenage pregnancy rates in Kansas will travel to the Legislature this spring, but its journey toward passage already has begun in Lawrence.
Michael Brown, a registered nurse at Haskell Health Center, 23rd and Barker streets, has been trying to drum up local support for a bill that would create teenage pregnancy programs in Kansas communities.
"If the Legislature keeps hearing from different parts of the community, they will be much more likely to take the time and effort to draft a good bill and then pass it," Brown said.
The model for the proposed program is a federal- and state-financed project that began in 1982 in Denmark, S.C. A rural, low-income come
Program strives for pregnancy reduction
munity.
"The rate dropped by 63 percent in two years," Brown said. "That's phenomenal. And it didn't just stop there; it still going."
The South Carolina program did not use any revolutionary methods to reduce teenage pregnancies, Brown said. Instead, it focused on teaching students about birth control methods or to abstain from sexual intercourse.
Brown, who has made presentations to the Lawrence City Commission and the Lawrence school board, said the project was successful because it involved the schools, health department and parents.
the community trying to lick this by itself."
"It's not just the school by itself or the health department by itself," he said. "It's really a broad community effort instead of one segment of
State Sen. Wint Winter, R-Lawrence, invited Murray Vincent, director of the South Carolina proj- ition in February to explain the program. In February to explain the program.
Winter, chairperson of the Children's Subcommittee of the Social and Rehabilitation Services Task Force, said the program attracted so both anti-abortion and prochoice groups supported it.
"It certainly isn't an answer to the vexing abortion debate," he said. "But you're going to reduce that." It is also a vexing abortion by reducing pregnancy rates."
The subcommittee recently introduced a bill to the Legislature to begin a similar program in Kansas.
Winter said.
He said that a specific bill had not been drafted yet but that it probably would mandate several preliminary projects. Lawrence would be a possible site for an initial program, he said.
"It won't be as simple as copying what they did in South Carolina because every community is differ- mentally able to change it, fix it to Kansas' needs."
Martha Skeet, director of health services for the Lawrence school district, also said that the program would have to be altered to be effective in Lawrence, but that it was intended to involve the entire community.
Skeet said human sexuality and AIDS education were included in the eighth-grade health curriculum when the school became involved in a community-based teenage pregnancy task force three years ago.
New class offers intro to University life
By Sarah Davis
Kansan staff writer
Orientation Seminar, a pilot course offered this spring, can help newcomers find out what it means to be a KU student.
Kathryn Kretschmer, director of the office of new student orientation, said that she often heard students saying they could not find a niche at KU and that she thought this course could help.
"The intent behind this course is to help the student make a successful transition to the University," Kretschmer said.
The two-credit course provides an introduction to the University community, exploration of diversity in campus resources and conducting campus resources and procedures.
"We're trying to have the very balanced balance of the three countries, the balanced body of the knivesy" site
said.
The idea for a course that would offer KU students an introduction to the University has been brewing for at least 10 years, Kretschmer said. Similar classes are available at other universities around the country.
David Ambler, vice chancellor of the office of student affairs, said the reason the course was not offered was that he believed who believed the course should not be
taken for credit
But he thought the course was excellent and had great promise in helping students understand the learning in a university atmosphere.
"It will help enhance the quality of their education and increase the chances of their being successful," said. "And that is what it's all about."
Margin funds may be short, legislators say
By Joe Gose
Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — Kansas legislators are pleased with Gov. Joe Finney's resolve to finance the Margin of Excellence in her budget and help fund her commitment to property tax relief as a possible roadblock.
Gary Stotts, budget division director, said the governor's priorities were to provide property tax relief, provide for the funding of highway programs and reinstitute financing for the Margin.
Finney proposed to remove sales-tax exemptions from almost 80 goods and services to generate the revenue to finance these programs, and Stotts said programs would be weighed against one another to determine which ones would get the available resources.
Legislators already are talking about alternatives and removing obstacles to help finance all the programs, including the Margin.
The Margin of Excellence was the Board of Regents' three-year plan to bring the total financing of its seven institutions to 95 percent of their peer schools and to bring faculty salaries to 100 percent of the学费. The Legislature financed the first two years but not the third.
State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said, "I'm pleased that
she wants to become more involved in the Regents institutions. I think that the majority of the faculty is supportive of higher education."
Solbach said a state spending law would make it harder to finance programs. The law requires that 5 percent of the money spent out of the state's general fund each fiscal year must be left in the fund's balance at the end of the year.
“五 percent in some years is going to be too little, and 5 percent in other years is going to be too much,” he said. “If you don’t have it left at the end of the year or can’t take any out, you either have to raise taxes or cut programs.”
One alternative to tax restructuring is to reclassify property taxes, said State Rep. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence.
"Our constitution said that property taxes would be levied in a uniform and equal manner," she said. "But in 1986, there was an amendment to classify properties. If we reclassify, making the rates lower, we won't have to remove all of the exemptions she's asking for."
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton. D-Lawrence, agreed.
"We need a mechanism to keep property taxes down and to administer revenue," she said.
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