In weakening teachers— the state has gone too far

The author of this is a teacher and I work as one as well. I’m posting this because we need to focus all the attention possible to Gov. Sam Brownback’s neglect and gutting of education in this state. He has cut education to the bone and now his phony political ads have him bragging about money he’s putting back in education as if he is the new “education” candidate. Let’s remind people Brownback has gut education for almost four years. -សតិវ អតុ

From F5

By Bill Jenkins

First a disclaimer: I am a teacher. Forty-five years worth of teaching at the high school and community college levels. Teaching is also my family's curse. All of my sisters work in education. My mother and two aunts taught. Also a grandparent. I like teachers. This is why I am incensed (pissed off if you will) by the Repbulican war on education in general and teachers in particular.

As a retired public school teacher, it has bothered me for a long time that the state legislature has not bothered itself to fully fund the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. My pension comes from this fund. Money came out of my paycheck to go into the KPERS system and the school district also contributed. The state did not do its part.

KPERS has enough money for the rest of my life, but others may be cheated. More likely, the legislature will change the program from a defined benefit pension plan to some sort of 401k plan. The fallacy with this is that it would require the state to continue to pay those already vested in KPERS while diverting future teachers' contributions into the 401k. That means money going out but none coming in.

Other attempts made to weaken education and the teaching profession include moves to ease the process of certification. The announced purpose of this is to get qualified individuals to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) classes. That way, you could plug unemployed aerospace folks into the classroom. Make sense?

Did it ever occur to them that dramatically raising teacher pay would be the market solution to shortages? These supposedly open-market Republicans should go in that direction first. Labor flows to wages. Most universities have programs for provisional certification and fast lane accreditation. What these folks are not telling you is that the lower the bar for certification, the easier it is to get rid of a high priced tech teacher and bring in an unemployed aeronautical engineer at a lower wage.

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