Will governor really listen to educators?

Six years into his governorship, Sam Brownback is seeking input on school funding from the education community. What a concept.

But given his history, there is plenty of reason to doubt whether he will listen to such advice.

In a recent commentary published on these pages, Brownback called on “policymakers and educators to work together to find solutions that work for Kansas students, their parents and their teachers.” In particular, he wants educators to help him develop a new school-funding system.

Brownback’s outreach comes a few weeks after more than a dozen lawmakers aligned with Brownback lost in the August primary. It also comes after years of tepid support for public education – as well as some hostility and misinformation.

Though Brownback boasts that total education funding increased during his time in office, much of that increase has gone to the pension system or was ordered by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Net operating aid to schools increased only 0.67 percent during the past six years, according to the Kansas Association of School Boards. That hasn’t kept up with inflation during that time (8.9 percent) or accounted for increases in student enrollment.

Brownback and the Legislature also didn’t seem to care what teachers thought when they eliminated state-mandated due-process rights. Or when GOP lawmakers kept bringing up bills to block state education standards or to prosecute teachers for distributing “harmful material.”

And how many teachers and education associations told Brownback to sunset the school-funding formula and replace it with block grants? Educators overwhelmingly supported the old formula. Their main complaint was the state’s failure to fully fund it.

Brownback also has complained about schools not spending 65 percent of their funding “into the classroom.” In his 2016 State of the Union address, he labeled such inefficiency as “immoral.”

Educators have repeatedly explained that the 65 percent threshold is arbitrary and the measurement misleading. Even Brownback’s own school efficiency task force said there was no science to support the goal.

What’s more, a new report from the KASB ranks Kansas among the nation’s leaders in the percentage of dollars going to instruction.

Still, it’s good that Brownback is finally reaching out to educators. Here’s hoping he really means it.

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 5:07 AM with the headline "Will governor really listen to educators?."