Letters on gender wage gap, taxing teachers, vouchers, golf carts, MS

Wage gap statistic is inconclusive

Though it was admirable that The Eagle brought the fascinating topic of the gender wage gap to our attention, the article failed to communicate the data in a way that a reader could reach an informed conclusion (“Biggest challenge isn’t what you’d expect,” March 5 Eagle).

The article’s second paragraph said: “Same job, same degree, same experience. Less pay.” Later, the article cited the oft-repeated national statistic that women earn 83 cents on the dollar of what men earn.

Fortunately, a link was provided to the Pew Research Center, the source of the claim. The 83 percent figure does not control for the job, degree or experience.

Pew and the data source are clear that meaningful conclusions on the statistic alone are not possible. Pew also has a study that claims parity has been nearly reached, and the gap reversed in some states when those variables are held equal. Even then, attention is drawn to factors not accounted for and ones that cannot be measured.

Without thorough understanding and dialogue, a remedy for a region disparity may be worse than the problem, thus reducing Wichita’s competitiveness.

Could the disparity be the result of discrimination? Certainly. Could the march and arrival at parity be an indication that society has wised up? You bet. The article was written to support entrenched positions rather than get to the bottom of the issue.

Carts not pools?

The Wichita City Council was willing to spend just shy of $1 million on new golf carts for city-owned courses but was not willing to keep much-needed swimming pools open in poor neighborhoods. It’s just one more example of the rich taking care of the rich and the poor going without.

Taxing teachers

Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget proposes forcing all educators into a state health care pool with a one-size-fits-all high-deductible health savings account. When he vetoed a recent tax bill, Brownback stated that “Kansas families deserve to keep more of their hard-earned cash.” Is this true for all but teachers?

When educators have no choices but to empty their wallets to a government mandate, that is a tax. What if the legislators had proposed a $5,000 or more tax on Kansas middle class families? Would the governor be OK with that? Because that is what his budget proposal does to some educators in Kansas.

The legislators’ tax proposal would have cost my family about $1,000.

I am concerned that legislators don’t seem to grasp the impact of the governor’s budget recommendation for a state educator health insurance pool. This is a massive undertaking that requires in-depth planning.

The whole thing is a repeat of the launch of Obamacare, when Congress had no idea what they were passing. And here we are with Brownbackcare, and no one is paying attention.

Harming kids

We have again heard the complaints recently from the uninformed and misguided about declining state assessment scores and the need for school choice, school vouchers, charter schools and the funding of private education with taxpayer money in order to provide students with a better educational opportunity.

What our state Supreme Court has now unanimously determined is that our rising and falling test scores have fluctuated with the amount the state was spending on education, and that our governor and conservative Legislature have been harming the kids of our state in their efforts to cut taxes and destroy public education.

Stronger together

In Kansas, about 5,000 individuals are living with multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease of the central nervous system. March 5-11 is MS Awareness Week, which encourages all of us to address the challenges of MS today while moving toward long-term solutions.

Last year alone, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society invested $54 million to advance more than 380 research projects around the world. The Society has helped more than 1 million people affected by MS.

This year’s Walk MS Wichita takes place Saturday, April 8, in Sedgwick County Park. Please join in the walk by registering at walk.msmidamerica.org or call 1-855-372-1331.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on gender wage gap, taxing teachers, vouchers, golf carts, MS."