State lawmakers should spend time in public schools

Some local business leaders had eye-opening experiences while shadowing public school principals recently. State lawmakers should try it, too.

The “principal for a day” idea was developed by the Business and Education Alliance of Greater Wichita, a group focused on improving the local workforce. Elementary, middle and high schools in Andover, Wichita, Derby and Goddard participated.

Steve Cox, CEO of Cox Machine, wasn’t sure what to expect. His business friends had told him that public schools were inefficient. But after spending half a day at Hyde International Studies and Communications Magnet Elementary School in Wichita, Cox concluded that his friends were wrong.

Cox said he saw a very efficiently run organization that was hampered by the weight of the budget-shifting process. He also was stunned to see a gifted education class being taught at the end of an open hallway because there wasn’t enough classroom space.

Cox left frustrated that education has become such a political football.

“The people who are hurt are the kids,” he said.

Heather Denker of the Greater Wichita Partnership had a similar reaction. She visited Hamilton Middle School in Wichita, where she saw “passionate teachers and administrators who want to see kids succeed.”

She walked away wondering “when schools became the enemy.”

Part of the problem is that some state lawmakers rarely visit public schools, let alone spend half a day observing teachers and visiting with administrators. As a result, their perceptions of public schools may be based on talking points pushed by anti-tax groups, not on what’s actually happening in classrooms.

This can lead to wrongheaded legislation that second-guesses teachers and administrators and undermines teacher unions.

For example, the Kansas Senate recently approved a bill forcing public school teachers to vote every three years on whether to retain their local union. No teacher testified in support of this bill, and it was opposed by the Kansas Association of School Boards, the Kansas School Superintendents Association and the United School Administrators of Kansas.

The House also spent more than three hours trying to block state education standards that school districts and teachers overwhelmingly support. And, of course, many lawmakers contend that schools are more than adequately funded while districts consider cuts to personnel and programs.

If lawmakers spent time in schools, as local business leaders did, they might better understand and appreciate the good work being done throughout this state. Then, instead of pulling down teachers and administrators, they’d be asking how to help them succeed.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 7:09 PM with the headline "State lawmakers should spend time in public schools."