Letters on teachers, Kansas Supreme Court, cuts to senior care, Cruz

Change attitude toward teachers

After 11 years teaching in Kansas public high schools, I ended my teaching career this May. I truly enjoyed teaching, but it was a difficult job.

The long hours and the budget cuts I witnessed in our state during the past decade are not what make teaching difficult. What makes teaching difficult is a societal lack of respect for teachers that leads to a general disheartening and discouragement throughout the teaching profession.

Parents often defend poor student decisions, and in doing so they teach children it is OK to argue with teachers. Some administrators back these parents, reinforcing disrespect.

Perhaps the most glaring example of teacher disrespect is the Legislature. Legislators speak poorly to and about educators, and they hold an obvious lack of regard for educator expertise when creating legislation that will affect Kansas kids.

What I don’t think people understand is that disrespect toward educators affects children. If teachers feel their services are not valued, then their performance suffers. Research has shown teacher effectiveness is the No. 1 factor contributing to student success. If Kansans continue to undervalue teachers, teachers will not best serve kids.

The attitude toward Kansas teachers has to change, both at home and at the ballot box.

Enough is enough

What gall the Republicans have in criticizing the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision to fix inequities in school funding. After giving lawmakers years to fix the inadequate funding for our public schools, the Supreme Court is finally saying enough is enough.

Do legislators think that anyone who has followed legislative decisions related to public education believes they have had the interest of children in mind? How vividly the Legislature’s priorities were exhibited when state senators chose to take their “sine die” day to discuss at length who uses what bathroom.

Public education is the foundation of our civilization. People continue to seek ways to separate themselves (home school, gated communities, texting, Facebook, churches), which makes the effect of public education even more crucial.

As a classroom teacher, district administrator and building principal at the elementary, middle and high school levels for 32 years, I ask: Where else can our children sit in an integrated setting, where diversity of thought is expressed, where the art of compromise can be learned and critical thinking encouraged?

When a strong public education system does not exist, a weakened economic, social and political system is created.

The Legislature needs to follow the state constitution, which assures an equal and quality education. The Supreme Court is standing by it.

Court doing its job

We are facing a constitutional crisis in Kansas. The governor and many legislators are denying the role of the state Supreme Court in our government.

If the Supreme Court is not to interpret the constitutionality of laws, who does? Where is our foundation, if not in the Supreme Court?

Is the Legislature the final arbiter? How many legislators have taken a class in law above undergraduate level? The Legislature is not qualified nor charged to interpret the laws it passes. In our system, that responsibility falls to the Supreme Court.

Authoritarianism starts when all the power is concentrated in one branch. The branch being left out is the branch that ensures the rule of law is upheld, and held above politics. Where is the elected leader in our state who says that? It’s time to stand up and be counted.

We are a state of laws. If we don’t have that, our voices might as well be screams in the night, lost as soon as they’re uttered. Supreme Court rulings mean more than screams in the night.

Senior cuts wrong

Seniors statewide soon will be receiving letters indicating the amount of services being terminated or reduced as a result of cuts to the Senior Care Act program. According to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, about 180 individuals in the Wichita metropolitan area will see reductions in services they have relied on – services that improve the quality of life for seniors and the disabled who have difficulty with self-care but who are still able to live at home.

It is becoming more and more obvious that Gov. Sam Brownback’s loyalties are not with the people of Kansas. His flippant dismissal of the needs of our most vulnerable, like his white-knuckled grip on the failed policy of eliminating taxes on pass-through business income, is not only embarrassing to Kansas but very cruel to very real people in need.

Just as guilty are those legislators who facilitated this damaging policy change. They too are responsible for undermining the quality of Kansas schools and neglecting our most vulnerable citizens. We must defeat every one of the legislators who helped Brownback destroy Kansas’ viability as a place to be proud of living.

Cruz is still best

If you are a Republican, you may be feeling discouraged right now because you may feel like Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are your only real options. But take heart.

First of all, Trump is not the official nominee yet. He has to be voted in as such by the delegates at the Republican National Convention, and they may choose to nominate someone else. Trump is already proving to be a very poor fit for the presidency, but there is another candidate who is 100 percent presidential material – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Cruz actually has only suspended his campaign, not completely ended it. He still has his delegates, and he should be the logical choice for the nomination. He’s the second-place finisher, still is a huge favorite with conservatives all over the country, has the experience and the temperament necessary for the presidency, and has done the hard work of campaigning and earning delegates.

I believe that Cruz is the only candidate who can beat Clinton and become a great commander in chief. If you supported him before he suspended his campaign, don’t give up yet. If the delegates choose wisely, we may still have a real president again.

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Letters on teachers, Kansas Supreme Court, cuts to senior care, Cruz."