Kansas stands as a paradigm of all things negative when surrendering to the mission of conservatism. From trickle-down economics to starving state budgets, the policies of small government ideologues can squeeze the life out of families trying to remain viable or, at best, climbing the ladder of success.
Governor Sam Brownback stirs the pot of financial toxin while his minions titter and cackle like a coven of witches. His recipe of cutting taxes has sent most of the state to the medicine cabinet to find relief. The victims are many with the impoverishing of one segment, education, putting a tremendous burden on parents, teachers and students.
By cutting income taxes, Brownback curtailed a huge revenue provider. While he stands adamantly behind his principle, the state flounders — from bond ratings to hospital closures to budget proposals.
Most conservatives don’t look upon the budget shortfall as a bad thing. Really. They don’t want government to operate in good stead; they crave for perceived over-regulation and intrusion to be out of their lives. The actual result, however, is putting the state into a negative spiral.
Brownback believes his plan of low taxes provides an incentive for businesses to flock to the state and, thus, developing an economy that prospers. Like Kansas, other states are finding out the plan misses the mark, like a myopic archer taking aim at a bull’s-eye.
Businesses look at numerous resources when choosing a place to do business, including educational facilities, infrastructure, health centers and climate. Kansas has failed to charm all that many new developers, simply because its political leaders lost track of the total package.
The cut in educational funds has become a contentious issue, even involving the state supreme court.
The high court demanded that lawmakers enact a new financial formula by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, or “the schools in Kansas will be unable to operate” because no satisfactory structure would be in place to fund them. So, the legislators put something together. Will it be enough to sway the court? Many Democrats say no.
Also, the justices may yet reject the fix that the Legislature sped through in an attempt to meet the court’s criteria before the deadline. If it is agreed to, funds for the coming fiscal year essentially will be frozen at 2015-16 levels. It’s just a one-year fix, so expect more of the same uncertainty next year.
So what is all this anti-educational push, not just in financing schools but also trying to alter policies that have put Kansas at the forefront of educational well-being? Ask many state residents and they will tell you the school system isn’t what it used to be, instead falling in stature and efficiency. They blame Brownback’s policies.
Kirk Schultz, president of Kansas State University, has announced that he’s leaving in May to take the top job at Washington State University. He came to K-State seven years ago. He’s going during a time of the state’s turmoil in higher education. For example, Brownback recently cut $17 million from higher education in response to tax revenues that persistently have fallen below expectations. In February, Schultz announced a two percent reduction in the budgets of all academic and administrative units at K-State.
Can Brownback’s educational policies be a factor in Schultz’s move? The president didn’t give a reason why he’s leaving his job.
What effect will the turbulent educational situation have on K-State’s hiring a new president? Will a well-qualified candidate want to participate in a system fraught with governmental peril?
Make no mistake: education in Kansas is taking hits.
“What’s happening, it’s nothing less than an attempt to disassemble public education,” Steve Wentz, President of United Teachers of Wichita, told KSN regarding funding school funding over the past couple of years. “Oh, I think it’s a war on public education, that began ten, twelve, fifteen years ago. It’s been very incremental, and it’s been erosive to the point, maybe it’s one of those things, you may not notice it. Like rust on a car, you don’t realize it and all of a sudden my gosh, look what’s happened.”
Conservatives want privatization of many government functions, including, of course, education. They point to charter schools and vouchers.
That the cost of education has been increasing is not a coincidence. Conservatives are making education less accessible, and more corporate oriented, in order to serve their agenda. The squeeze on public education is a result of decades of predominantly conservative government in the United States.
Yet you still must wonder why conservatives hate education. To many observers the reasons are clear. Education tends to liberalize people. The research shows academics to be growing even more liberal. Also, people who define themselves as liberals have the highest average education levels.
When conservatives derogate education and make good schools less accessible to the public, they are serving their self-interests politically. The primary way that access to education is being limited is by making it more expensive, especially for the “better schools.”
Conservatives want to limit the types of education that students receive. Some of them will resort to home schooling to provide a Christian education. Conservative businessmen want students to have a business-friendly education.
Vouchers are a way that conservatives want to finance education so they can support private schools, including those that profess religious convictions.
Some liberal advocates believe that by limiting access to public education, and the content of educational programs, conservatives can keep more people poorly informed, and thus more susceptible to their propaganda — and more likely to vote conservative and to endorse conservative values.
It is in the interest of most industries to limit advances in technology or cultural changes. Most would like to return to the “white” days of the 1950s, having monopolies on products, making the public dependent upon them. They want to curtail the impetus for cultural advancement.
John Kasich, who many point to as the only sensible Republican running for President, is a public education rebel with a cause. He once said, “If I were, not president, if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers’ lounges where they sit together and worry about ‘woe is us’.”
Republicans often imply that all the ills of U.S. society are the result of teacher laziness. If only schools could be turned over to market forces and not held back by greedy teacher unions, conservative logic goes, everything would be fine – even though charter schools perform no better than traditional schools. Trying to bust teachers’ unions pumps up conservatives as much as trying to deny climate change, defend the NRA and defund Planned Parenthood. Teachers’ unions reliably support the Democratic party.
Once again, Kansas folks could do something about this conservative reign of terror. They are the solution; they must vote for those who see public education as a way to a better life. Reinstituting the income tax is a must. If not, the state will continue a downward slide into a pit of financial hell.