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TOPEKA — If elected governor, Democrat Tom Holland says he would use lottery dollars to expand job-training programs. He also would give school districts more leeway to raise local property taxes, eliminate ineffective tax breaks, and use a “rainy day fund” to avoid cuts in social services.

“If we expect families to save for a rainy day, the state, likewise, should do the same,” Holland said Tuesday during a press conference at the Statehouse.

Holland, who faces Republican Sam Brownback in the November general election, used the event to criticize his opponent's ‘Road Map for Kansas’ plan, saying it was little more than “vague platitudes and feel-good buzzwords” that could be used by “any candidate running for any office.”

Brownback has said his chief goals as governor would be to increase average personal income, create more private sector jobs, raise 4th grade reading levels, improve high school graduation rates, and lower the number of children in poverty.

“His road map was so sparse with details, so lacking in direction (that) to follow it would guarantee that we would be lost and unable to find our way back,” Holland said.

Holland said as governor he would create a commission to review the state’s tax credits and exemptions and figure out which ones serve little or no purpose. The findings would be included in a bill and subjected to a yes-or-no vote in the Legislature.

“It would be similar to the BRAC commission,” Holland said, referring to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Base Closure and Realignment Commission and the processes used in closing military bases.

Rainy day fund

Holland said he would propose a “rainy day fund” to be bankrolled by 1 percent of revenue once the surplus tops 3 percent.

It would be a “lock box” fund that couldn’t be tapped until revenues declined.

The savings account, Holland said, would allow the state to avoid cuts in public safety and social services when the economy soured.

Legislation that would have created a similar ‘rainy day fund’ stalled in the House earlier this year.

Unlike Brownback, Holland said he saw no need to alter the state’s school finance formula. And he said he would “stand firm” against giving parents state-funded vouchers they could use to send their children to private schools.

Brownback has said the school finance formula should be “reformed” in order to “break the cycle of litigation,” a reference to the lawsuits filed against the state by districts either aggrieved by the formula or dissatisfied with levels of state support provided them.

Holland said he was willing to raise the limit on local school districts’ authority to raise property taxes. He declined to say by how much, noting that any increase would need thorough study.

Meanwhile, Brownback made a campaign appearance in Emporia on Tuesday and talked about his plans for education.

He said he would work for greater support and mentoring opportunities for teachers, particularly in their early years of teaching. He also said he would promote higher salaries for "master teachers who provide models of excellence within their schools," and that he would work with the state education board to "enhance alternative teacher certification programs" so that "a lack of a traditional education background does not limit highly qualified individuals from the teaching field."

KHPA question

Asked if he favored making the Kansas Health Policy Authority a cabinet level department, as championed by some Brownback supporters in the Legislature, Holland said, “We’ll be talking about the health policy authority in the days ahead. It’s something that needs to be examined, and we’ll be commenting on that in the future.”

Since its inception in 2005, the health policy authority has been a quasi-independent agency governed by a non-elected board. It is charged with overseeing Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the state employees’ health insurance program.

Holland is a state senator from Baldwin City; Brownback has served in the U.S. Senate since 1997.

Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election.

The general election will be Nov. 2.