i don't think sam brownback's job is at issue. who is against education? under most situations you can attack teachers, school funding and keep your job. but the citizens and the students will suffer and you'll be bounced out after one or two terms. >> how do the parties view these governors. not just sam brownback but governors in ohio state, wisconsin, are they seen as up and coming leaders of the party? >> oh, yeah, this is--this is the farm team for the republican party in 2016. each and every one of these governors, susana martinez, rick scott, who will probably not keep his job in florida, they are all seen as potential candidates or vice president candidates for 2016. you look at scott walker who is already considered a g.o.p. contender. there were two recall votes for him. he managed to keep his job but i don't think that will play well nationally. the republicans are playing a dangerous game. again, in the short term tax cuts are a brilliant idea. in the long term everything that you don't fund will be a tax on these citizens down the road. that's

. >> sam brownback is the republican governor of kansas.e vowed to take action after the most recent census in which most counties reported a loss to their population. brownback's idea was to create something like a new homestead act, like the one that lured people to rural areas in the late 19th century with the promise of free land. >> i think there's something worth preserving. it's about knowing the person. about forming a community. we already have that. phillipsburg, kansas, parker, kansas. you know not only the person, you know their parents and maybe their grandparents. why destroy it? this is a beautiful community. we just need to give it some economic activity. >> reporter: his idea was to create what are called rural opportunity zones. in 2011, the state legislature overwhelmingly approved the plan. the roz program works like this, if you are a college grad with student loan debt, you can get up to $15,000 over five years just to move to a designated rural county in kansas that's experienced a loss in population. those coming fro

with us is a republican governor from kansas, governor sam brownback. >> you guys go back.y, baby. it's like ali holding up the trophy. don't let them take the belt away! >> classmate of joe's. >> oh, good lord. >> he was a real bomb thrower on the back bench all night. >> oh, my lord. such a bomb thrower and what they all say, sam. >> he was. he was. >> i make all of you guys tired. i have to say this, sam. first book i wrote when i talked about how republicans spent way too much money in 2004, it's sort of invoked now and i did it in 2004. i actually stole the title from my book from something you said to me when i'm throwing bombs on the back row and i'm really depressed. republicans are selling out and they are spending too much money. >> man without a country. >> sam came up to me and put his arm around me. he said, you know, joe, even rome wasn't burned in a day. i kept that in my mind and five, six, seven years later, i used it in the book. how is the republican party doing? then we will talk about your state and then you basketball team. >> wichita state? >> no, kan

republican governor sam brownback led the charge to trim school funding. >> everybody's got to spend some time now really analyzing this and how we move on forward. we have great schools. we're going to work to make them better. >> good job. >> reporter: 475,000 children attend kansas public schools. >> we don't have a full-time librarian. >> reporter: libby kleeman's two children and brooks-kayal's grandchildren all go to public schools. the kleemans live in the affluent andover. and caton's children live in. >> is it something that just affects poor school? >> no. >> no, not at all. >> the stakes are high for every district in the state, for every child in the state. >> that is a possibility. >> reporter: at jarredin middle school, hit even harder by those cuts, some kids are so needy, teachers do their laundry. principal lura jo atherly: >> i thought we as a state had evolved and understood how important getting our kids ready for college and careers would be. >> reporter: in 2005, a court ordered the state to pay $4,492 per student. in 2008, they spent $4,400. now it's down to $3

contentious because with while lawmakers have not increased funding, led by lieutenant governor sam brownback, did pass the largest education cuts in history, defending the current education spending factoring in state local and federal help. >> we do spend a significant amount of money, add all three sources together, 12 thousand plus, almost $13,000 per student. >> josie gutierrez hopes to see changes in her school soon but the big picture issue of overall education spending is still unresolved. jonathan martin, credit al jazeera, kansas city, kansas. >> the unexpected surge in north dakota's oil boom. >>> our science and technology expert jake ward with the facts you need to know. >> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm richelle carey. a lot to cover this half hour. president obama has sanctions against one of the world's richest oligarchs. >>> plus this: music once outlawed in a war-torn country. you will witness a powerful return engagement. first though a look at the day's top headlines. a federal judge struck down michigan's band against same sex marriage. the ban was put in force w

sam brownback in kansas, mary fallin in oklahoma, john casic in ohio., reforming programs, lowering tax rates to get better investment in companies. what's so hard about this? john f. kennedy did it 50 years ago. ronald reagan about it 30 years ago. >> they believe so much in central government, central economic planning. they believe it's unfair for people to be making a lot of money when the aspiration of every american should be to make more money, get on that ladder of opportunity. it's so frustrating, larry, to be on the inside and working with these people when they don't think debt matters. the president is increasing debt, almost doubling it over the next ten or 12 years. it's incredible, given the fact that he's amassed more debt as a president than all the presidents before him combined if you take it through the rest of his administration. >> i think if the economy would grow with fresh incentives and regulatory roll backs and we get back to four or five percent post recession growth, that debt would be absorbed by the economic growth. >> you

kansas governor sam brownback joins us here live next. ♪ ♪ >>> welcome back.re. after 33 major delays in obamacare and administrative changes beyond belief, is this really a good idea? are governors really feeling the pressure? i have an idea, let's ask kansas governor sam brownback who is a republican governor having great success. welcome. >> thank you. >> first off, for you, you have an unemployment rate of 4.9%. things are going well because you said the heck with this medicare money. why? >> well, obamacare is not working. look at what it's doing in the overall system. they've had to delay a series of different programs all the way through the system. all they're basically doing in a lot of places is expanding medicaid program overall. that's one that they're going to have to subsidize and have been subsidizing federally. 100% initially to get in. 90% after that. we don't have enough funds right now to take care of the medicaid population that we have that have mental or physical disabilities right now. that's what i'm focused on. >> even though the feder