*By Christian Smith* Kansas Rep. Stephanie Clayton is leaving the Republican Party behind after the GOP leaders in her state pulled their support for a bipartisan plan to fund the local education system in what she called a "power play" to damage the incoming Democratic governor. "What ultimately did it for me was when party leadership decided that they wanted to completely scrap an education plan that we had all spent about two years working hard to put together," Clayton told Cheddar in an interview Thursday. Clayton said she believes the GOP policy shift was, in fact, a political maneuver to damage incoming Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's reputation. "The area that I represent is an area that is very strongly supportive of education and as such, I knew that I really couldn't be in line with my party any more especially on that issue ー so I'm done," she said. Clayton joins Kansas State Sens. Dinah Sykes and Barbara Bollier, who both officially left the Republican Party earlier this month and rebranded themselves as Democrats. Education funding has been an intensely debated issue in Kansas politics since former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback stripped the state's education budget in 2012 as part of his tax cut experiment. Brownback believed the massive cuts would spur major economic growth in Kansas, but the state's economy eventually suffered. Between 2013 and 2016, Kansas’ real gross domestic product only grew by 3.8 percent, while national GDP growth was nearly double that, at 7 percent, according to the [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Research](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPC1). Now Kansas is trying to put the pieces back together, working on a new education budget that right some of the wrongs of the Brownback era ー until the state's Republican leaders pulled the plug on the two-year long effort. "They decided to scrap the whole thing as part of a power play, I assume, against our new Democratic governor," Clayton said. Despite the decision by Clayton, Sykes, and Bollier to switch parties, Republicans still hold a supermajority in the Kansas state House and Senate. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/why-one-kansas-state-representative-left-the-republican-party-behind).

Share:
More In Politics
NC Lawmakers Pass 12-week Abortion Ban; Governor Vows Veto
North Carolina lawmakers on Thursday approved and sent to the governor a ban on nearly all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, down from the current 20 weeks, in response to last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Clarence Thomas Let GOP Donor Pay Child's Tuition
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas joins other members of the Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. A Republican megadonor paid two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who did not disclose the payments, a lawyer who has represented Thomas and his wife acknowledged Thursday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Florida Republicans Pass School Bills on Pronouns, Diversity
Florida Republicans on Wednesday approved bills to ban diversity programs in colleges and prevent students and teachers from being required to use pronouns that don't correspond to someone's sex, building on top priorities of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
300 Arrested in Global Crackdown on Dark Web Drug Market
Authorities in the U.S. and Europe arrested nearly 300 people, confiscated over $53 million, and seized a dark web marketplace as part of an international crackdown on drug trafficking that officials say was the largest operation of its kind.
Supreme Court Justice Stevens' Private Papers Open to Public
Newly opened records that belonged to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens give the public a behind-the-scenes glimpse at his decades on the court, including the tense struggle over the 2000 presidential election and major cases on affirmative action and abortion.
Load More