Kansas teachers’ union sitting on pile of cash

Don’t start shedding a tear for Kansas teachers so fast.

Yes, they lost tenure-like rights in this year’s session of the Legislature. And, yes, they’re collective bargaining rights have been targeted.

But they are stockpiling lots of money going into this year’s general election.

New reports out this week show that the Kansas National Education Association’s political action committee has amassed $610,000 in its campaign fund as of July 24.

The KNEA PAC started the year with $743,000 on hand and raised about $81,000 more during the first seven months of 2014, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

The KNEA’s rival, the conservative-leaning Kansas Chamber of Commerce, has about $134,400 on hand going into the general election.

The chamber, buoyed by a $75,000 contribution from Koch Industries, raised about $186,400 during the first seven months of this year.

However, the chamber spent about $197,000 during the same time period when it laid out money to help conservative candidates running for the Kansas House.

This story was originally published July 29, 2014 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Kansas teachers’ union sitting on pile of cash."