This is going to come as a surprise, so before you read this, please make sure you're sitting down. Here goes: The Star is suggesting in an editorial that Kansas public schools are destitute. School districts can barely keep the lights on, let alone pay staff or educate THE CHILDREN. The CHILDREN are suffering.
And Brownback is mean. Sniff. Sniff. He and his staff are lobbing "grenades" at the public school establishment. I drove by one local school building this morning, and all that remained where it once stood was a smoking hole in the ground -- such is the devastation wrought by Brownback and his war mongering staff. Just kidding. The school is still there. So is a brand new playground, and the local teachers are getting a pretty decent raise -- bigger than the one I received. (Mental note: Must work harder at pretending to be overworked and underpaid. Also, must hire a lobbyist to help make my case. Should lobby for summers off and a month at Christmas.)
Just in case you were worried about THE CHILDREN, I would like to make it clear that no weapons have actually been fired, launched or lobbed at any actual school buildings. Whew.
No, Brownback's war crime against school districts comes in the form of emails from a woman who was in college last week. "People who disagree with (Brownback's school funding) assessment stand a chance of getting blasted in a group email sent to Brownback supporters, by Melika Willoughby..." the Star bemoans.
I don't know how the Brownback team sleeps at night. Seriously I don't. They send "missives" in emails about "ever-litigating" school district attorneys.
Oh for heaven's sakes. I've written about these spam emails before. They read like a college newspaper piece. I'm certain that bitter Star editorialists are the only people who read through the entire thing. They're too long, and honestly, too boring, despite the Star editorial board's claims that the spams are somehow weaponized.
The editorial says Brownback is also making the controversial suggestion that perhaps maybe, quite possibly, teachers should receive pay based on merit, rather than on how much they can receive by whining the loudest. I'm sorry. That's the least controversial thing in the history of the world. You know who else receives pay based on merit: ALMOST EVERY OTHER PROFESSION IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD.
The editorial quotes some superintendent whining (shock, I know) that she has never experienced educators in Kansas "so undervalued by legislators and the governor."
I can't take it. The reverence with which the public is supposed to hold for teachers is just too much. If the governor suggests anything other than paying teachers what Chiefs players make, the Whining Whiners Who Whine complain that they're being "undervalued." Heaven forbid the market make some determination about an individual teacher's worth. They're all saints and we should bow before them. Kiss the ring. End of story.
And then the Star rehashes an old supposed slight: getting rid of tenure. You know who else doesn't have perfect job security: ALMOST EVERY OTHER PROFESSION IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD.
The editorial comes complete with a graph suggesting that despite additional public school funding, a smaller percentage of the funds is making its way into the classroom. You know who gets to decide what funds go where under the current block grant system? Your local school administrators and school boards.
The Star's ire is not just ridiculous. It's misplaced. Shocker.
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