Kansas views on Brownback facts, teacher exodus, unlicensed teachers, Bioscience Authority
Wrong numbers – Gov. Sam Brownback’s sloppy – or calculated – misuse of various figures to illustrate his administration’s successes is taking a toll on his credibility. The latest instance was when he decided to defend his education policies by touting the “fact” that the average teacher salary in Kansas was significantly higher than the average in neighboring Missouri. Fortunately, political reporters are taking a harder look at the governor’s “facts” and shedding light on cherry-picked data and faulty comparisons.
This isn’t the first time Gov. Sam Brownback has used faulty or misleading information to make himself look better. He regularly cherry-picks employment numbers to show that the “sun is shining” in Kansas when in fact job growth lags behind neighboring states. Like anything else, just because the governor says it is so doesn’t make it so.
Teacher exodus – Data recently presented to the State Board of Education shows steadily rising numbers of teachers leaving the profession and an equally alarming rise in teachers who left Kansas for jobs in other states. Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature should treat the reports on the teacher exodus as a wake-up call. Kansans value public education. They want schools staffed by talented, enthusiastic professionals. The governor and lawmakers must give schools adequate, stable funding and stop proposing laws that teachers find offensive and punitive. Until that happens, the drain will continue.
Unlicensed teachers – Six Kansas school districts received a green light to embark on an educational experiment that has little backing from teachers but full support of the Legislature and Gov. Sam Brownback. The six “innovative” districts can begin hiring individuals to lead classrooms who have no teaching experience or training. It is simply not enough to know what to teach. How to teach is equally important, or the former will not be retained. The Kansas State Board of Education receives a failing grade on this assignment.
Bioscience Authority – In light of the state’s poor jobs performance, we’d expect Gov. Sam Brownback to protect any economic success story. Instead, he helped kill a proven jobs creator in the Kansas Bioscience Authority. KBA successes once were the envy of other states, which now will use the same model to lure companies and jobs their way. Consider it yet another step backward, as ideology-driven moves continue to ruin commonsense initiatives Kansas once pursued, and still needs.
Foster care audit – The Legislative Post Audit Committee declined on a party line vote last week to conduct a limited audit of the state’s foster care system under the Kansas Department for Children and Families. Committee members should have approved the audit, which could have been completed in time for the 2016 Legislature to act, if necessary, on the audit’s findings. Under the audit proposal, auditors would have researched DCF’s process for removing children from their families and reuniting them, identified foster care best practices and evaluated the foster care system. It is unfortunate there wasn’t sufficient harmony among members of the Legislative Post Audit Committee to commit to a responsible course of action.
This story was originally published August 2, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Kansas views on Brownback facts, teacher exodus, unlicensed teachers, Bioscience Authority."