Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kansas National Education Association

  • Kansas NEA questions legislative candidates, reveals agenda

    In Kansas, as across the nation, the teachers union is an important political force. Using a powerful message that no one can oppose — the welfare of schoolchildren — teachers unions press their real agenda.

    In Kansas, the agenda of the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union) includes these items:

    • Increasing taxes to support more spending on schools.
    • Opposing any form of school choice, including charter schools.
    • Opposing the Kansas legislature’s ability to set school spending levels, as the Kansas Supreme Court has shown it is willing to spend more than the legislature will.
    • Increasing teacher salaries.
    • Opposing any form of merit pay, incentive pay, or differential pay.
    • Opposing any weakening of teacher tenure.

    Most of these items might be what you expect from a labor union that depends on government spending to pay its members’ salaries. But that doesn’t mean these items advance the cause of schoolchildren in Kansas.

    Consider differential teacher pay and charter schools, for example. These are being promoted by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, but the existing public education bureaucracy and teachers unions are firmly opposed to these reforms.

    So we really need to wonder if the message of the teachers union — “it’s all about the kids” — represents the union’s true mission and agenda.

    Here’s some evidence to help you decide. Candidates for the Kansas Legislature, if they want to be considered for an endorsement by the KNEA, complete a lengthy questionnaire. This document is really more a manifesto telling candidates what they must believe and do to get the union’s endorsement and a contribution. It appears at the end of this article.

    In the past, I’ve analyzed a few of these questions. Here are links to these articles:

    (This is a Scribd document. Click on the rectangle at the right of the document’s title bar to get a full-screen view.)

  • Kansas school spending lobby pot calls kettle black

    After the 2009 Kansas Legislature ended its session in May (notwithstanding the formal closing in June), the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union) produced a document wrapping up the session and setting the stage for the future. It’s titled What’s next? (Legislatively speaking).

    Kansans need to be aware of the agenda of this organization and its allied school spending lobby partners. Using an unimpeachable issue — “it’s all about the kids” — this organization seeks to increase spending on public schools at great cost to Kansas taxpayers. This is at the same time it works hard to keep the government school monopoly on public dollars for education in place, stomping out any form of school choice programs that are found to be cost-saving and effective in many states.

    What’s really telling about this document is its complaining of the political power of groups like Americans For Prosperity and Club For Growth. That’s because without a doubt, the richest and most powerful lobby in Kansas is the school spending lobby. Browse through the finance reports filed with the Kansas Secretary of State, and you’ll see that the KNEA spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in support of candidates for the Kansas House and Senate, and other offices too.

    The document criticizes Kansas economic development spending for not producing “economic expansion or significant job growth.” But the school spending lobby is quick to highlight the purported economic benefit of government spending on schools. They don’t tell us that a dollar spent on public schools is a dollar taken through taxation. If left in the hands of its original owner, economic activity would have taken place, too.

    What is the problem in Kansas?

    The KNEA and the school spending lobby believes that Kansas has a revenue problem. They call it a “structural deficit.” What it means is that Kansas taxes are not high enough: “The plain fact is that the tax policy of the legislature is designed to keep Kansas in a fiscal hole. … You see, the Kansas revenue system has something that tax folks call a ‘structural deficit.’ Structural deficits result when spending increases outpace revenue collections.”

    Many Kansans, including Americans For Prosperity, believe that Kansas has a spending problem. According to Kansas state director Derrick Sontag, if Kansas spending had increased by even as much as 5% each year for the last five years, our state would have a $2 billion surplus.

    Instead, spending has increased so rapidly that Kansas, at the start of this year, faced a $1 billion deficit.

    The school spending lobby also believes that tax cuts are a “cost” to Kansas government that we can’t afford: “In a memo prepared by legislative research in response to a legislative inquiry, a list of 70 new tax cuts have been enacted between 2000 and 2008. Eighteen have come in the last four years with a total cost to the state through 2013 of $1.135 billion. This does not include $87 million in foregone revenue due to a decision to not decouple from the federal tax code last year.”

    Instead of believing that money first belongs to those who earned it, the school spending lobby believes that letting people retain more of their earnings is an expense we can’t afford.

    Where is the political power in Kansas?

    The KNEA complains: “But it [increasing taxes] won’t happen until legislators put the good of Kansas ahead of an endorsement — and the political money that comes with it — by Americans for Prosperity and the Club for Growth.”

    It’s ironic to hear the school spending lobby complain that their opponents are using “political money.” KNEA is one of the biggest spenders on lobbying in Topeka. Large school districts like USD 259, the Wichita public school district have their own full-time lobbyists — paid for by taxpayers. There’s all the campaign contributions, as mentioned above.

    Plus, an endorsement by the KNEA is highly sought after. Candidates complete a lengthy questionnaire to earn its endorsement. That document is really more a manifesto telling candidates what they must believe and do to get the union’s endorsement and a contribution. You can read last year’s version by clicking on KNEA legislative questionnaire.

    The single-minded goal of the school spending lobby is to spend so much that Kansas is put out of business. They aren’t shy about using political money — and taxpayer-funded lobbying and lawsuits — to achieve that goal.

  • School choice is a civil rights issue

    Why does America tolerate this?

    In his commentary Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber, Walter E. Williams reports on some new research about our public schools:

    McKinsey & Company, in releasing its report “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools” (April 2009) said, “Several other facts paint a worrisome picture. First, the longer American children are in school, the worse they perform compared to their international peers. In recent cross-country comparisons of fourth grade reading, math, and science, US students scored in the top quarter or top half of advanced nations. By age 15 these rankings drop to the bottom half. In other words, American students are farthest behind just as they are about to enter higher education or the workforce.” That’s a sobering thought. The longer kids are in school and the more money we spend on them, the further behind they get.

    Williams reports that for black and Latino students, the situation is far worse, with these students being two or three years behind in learning. It’s such a problem that even traditional black leadership is noticing:

    Al Sharpton called school reform the civil rights challenge of our time. He said that the enemy of opportunity for blacks in the U.S. was once Jim Crow; today, in a slap at the educational establishment, he said it was “Professor James Crow.” Sharpton is only partly correct. School reform is not solely a racial issue; it’s a vital issue for the entire nation.

    We need the type of competition in education that school choice provides. In Kansas, the public school lobby — firmly opposed to even the gentlest of reforms such as charter schools — retains its firm grip.

    Wichita and Kansas schools claim years of rising test scores. But when we get test results that the Kansas school bureaucracy doesn’t control, we find that test scores are flat. There’s a discrepancy there that needs investigation.

    In the meantime, schoolchildren, especially minority children, remain stuck in a failing system.

  • Kansas school spending lawsuit possible

    Here’s some material from “Under the Dome Today” for May 29, 2009. This is a publication of the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union).

    According to press reports, Schools for Fair Funding — the Montoy school lawsuit finance districts — is examining the possibility of re-opening the school finance lawsuit because of the cuts to education that were made by the 2009 legislature.

    John Robb, one of the two attorneys who represented the original group of districts in the suit, said, “The $755 million was almost like a court-ordered settlement, and now the Legislature is going backwards.”

    While no decision has been made as of right now, the plaintiffs have been meeting to discuss their options. Robb maintains that while the state is constitutionally prohibited from deficit spending, it is also constitutionally required to provide for education.

    Cuts enacted by the 2009 legislature have put base state aid per pupil (BSAPP) at just $27 over the 2005-06 school year when the lawsuit was settled.

    Judging by this material, it might seem like schools are in bad shape financially, what with spending per student increasing by just $27 over three years.

    But when you look at the total spending picture of Kansas schools, you get a different picture.

    During the 2005-06 school year, total spending by Kansas public schools was $4,689,294,566, or $10,596 per student.

    For the just-competed school year, 2008-09, total spending is estimated at $5,623,881,398, or $12,554 per student.

    That’s an increase of $1,958 per student. That’s 18.5%. You have to consider just a portion of spending — base state aid per pupil — to arrive at just a $27 increase in spending.

    It’s not uncommon for the school spending lobby and its supporters to do what they can to hide the magnitude of spending on schools. They’ll also do their best to exaggerate the effects any slowdown in the rapid rate at which spending has been increasing. This was demonstrated by Rep. Melody McCray-Miller at a recent legislative forum in Wichita. She disputed the total amount of spending by the Wichita school district. Wichita board of education member Lanora Nolan disputed these same figures at a Wichita Pachyderm Club meeting.

  • Watkins addresses Kansas budget, Republicans, schools

    Speaking at at the regular weekly meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm Club on May 22, 2009, Kansas House of Representatives member Jason Watkins addressed the Kansas budget, Kansas Republicans, and school spending.

    Watkins represents House district 105, which includes parts of west and northwest Wichita. He is Vice-Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which was the center of some fast-paced legislative action this year as it worked on the Kansas budget.

    Regarding the budget during the past legislative session, which ended in May: Watkins felt there was an opportunity for reform that the legislature should have taken advantage of. The injection of federal stimulus money, however, reduced the urgency of the Kansas budget crisis, and no reform took place.

    Kansas received about $1.8 billion in federal stimulus, with about $1 billion under the control of the legislature or the governor. The rest went directly to state government agencies.

    About $50 million, Watkins said, went to the Kansas Weatherization Office. That office has one man on its staff, and he told Watkins he had no idea how to spend all that money.

    True budget reform has been delayed, but is needed.

    Watkins said that there’s no doubt that the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union) is the most powerful lobby in Kansas.

    In 2008, Watkins said he had four children in the public school system. “Based on what the KNEA and the other education lobbyists told us this year, my kids must have gotten a horrible education in 2008. … Because the cuts we were talking about making would have taken K-12 education back to 2008 levels.” But the spending lobby painted a picture of failing schools if these cuts were made. Schools could absorb no cuts, they said.

    As a result, Kansas was forced to make large cuts in spending on programs such as assistance for the mentally and physically disabled in order to “empire build” in the Kansas public school system system.

    Addressing the need for budget reform, Watkins said that the present system, where each year’s budget is based on the past year’s plus an increase, produces anomalies. He illustrated a case where an agency might be able to get some federal money if the state spends some if its own. It might be, say, a three-year program. So the legislature authorizes and appropriates the funds.

    Then three years later the federal money is gone, so the program ends because the state funding alone is not sufficient for continuation. But the money the state allocated is still in the agency’s base budget — even through the program no longer exists.

    We need either zero-based budgeting or performance-based budgeting, Watkins said. Every state that’s done zero-based budgeting, however, has backed away from it, he said. There must be some type of performance measure, however.

    Watkins also said Kansas needs a legislative budget office. Presently the legislature receives a budget from the governor and works from that.

    In 2012, Watkins said the Kansas budget will face a huge challenge, as that’s the first budget year without the federal stimulus money.

    The budget that finally passed this year is full of problems, Watkins said. The budget was not debated on the floor of the Kansas House of Representatives, as that body simply voted to concur with the bill that the Senate passed. A group of moderate Republicans decided to team with Democrats to accomplish this, he said.

    With Republicans controlling the legislature, how did that happen? Watkins said “We do have people in the Republican Party who are Republicans in name only.” Republicans can disagree on issues, he said, but they shouldn’t vote with the Democrats 95% of the time. There are a group of about 16 Republican House members that constantly vote with the Democrats, and that produces a number large enough to pass legislation.

    In responding to a question about new Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson, Watkins said that while Parkinson said he’s not going to run for governor is 2010, no one’s asked him whether he’s going to run for senate in 2010. The compromise on the coal plant that Parkinson agreed to may have laid the groundwork for a state-side campaign.

    A question asked how does the school spending lobby have so much power? Watkins told how his opponent last year had never even voted. The KNEA gave him $500 (the maximum amount allowed) for the primary election, and that amount again in the general election. Yet, Watkins said his opponent never campaigned.

    It’s also not just the KNEA. There are other allied special interest groups. If the Democrats need something, these are the groups they go to.

    Watkins said the school spending lobby has a powerful argument unless people are presented with the facts and figures. That is, of course: “I’m for kids. Why do you hate them?” Because we have a disengaged public, Watkins said, people go along with this argument, which helps to further the cause and power of the education lobby. There is no question this lobby is the “bully in the Capitol.”

    He also said that the media doesn’t want to fight the school system. He told how one spending advocacy group refused to speak out at a meeting because they didn’t want to get the “schools made at them.” This is more evidence of how powerful the school spending lobby is.

  • Kansas, once home to education equality, now lags in freedom

    At one time Kansas played a leading role in education equality, as Topeka was home to the school that produced the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision by the United States Supreme Court.

    Today, however, Kansas lags in educational freedom and choice. The public school lobby in Kansas does everything it can to stomp out any spark of educational freedom and choice in Kansas. The two organizations at the forefront of this effort — the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA, the teachers union) and the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) — expend huge amounts of energy and money to protect their entrenched interests. Their interests, unfortunately, run contrary to the interests of Kansas schoolchildren and their parents.

    The following announcement from the Alliance for School Choice provides more information about the problem at the national level.

    (Washington, D.C., May 16, 2009) — In commemoration of tomorrow’s 55th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, Alliance for School Choice Interim President John Schilling issued the following statement:

    “Fifty-five years ago, citizens of all race, religion and socioeconomic status were given hope that educational equality would soon come to America. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education sent a clear message that every child is entitled to equal educational opportunities.

    Unfortunately, gains towards equality have been far too slow.

    Our nation’s education system today faces one of the most severe crises in American history — a crisis that impacts families, communities, and our already-suffering economy. Despite historic increases in education spending, 5 million children attend 10,000 failing schools. One child drops out of school every 26 seconds. This year’s high school dropouts will cost our country more money than the state budgets of California, Texas, and New York — combined.

    Today, however, it is not discriminatory laws that prevent equality and opportunity, nor is it a lack of overall funding. Our educational crisis stems from the unwillingness of entrenched special interests and the policymakers beholden to them to put the interests of children first. This historic anniversary reminds us that now, more than ever, is the time to ensure that all options are on the table to help disadvantaged students obtain a quality education.

    To ensure that American children — particularly those in low-income families — have access to high quality education, we must put the interests of special interests aside and embrace initiatives that truly provide hope and a quality education to children — especially those in low-income families. School vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs accomplish these goals by allowing parents to make the best decisions for their children’s education.

    Today, 10 states and the District of Columbia offer private school choice programs. In total, 18 programs serve 171,000 children — an 89 percent increase in student participation over just five years. More Democratic legislators are joining their Republican counterparts to sponsor and approve school choice legislation than ever before, making the fight for vouchers and scholarship tax credits truly bipartisan.

    School choice is one of the most researched and studied education reforms of our lifetime. The results are clear: school choice works. Allowing parents to select the best schools for their children — public or private — yields higher parental satisfaction, increased student achievement, and improvements in public schools.

    So today, as the nation celebrates the promise of equal educational opportunity on the 55th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, we call on state legislators across the country to stand up and support school choice. We call on local leaders to protect and strengthen existing school voucher and scholarship tax credit programs. And we call on Congress to fully reauthorize the federally-funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.”

    Monroe School 2009-01-24 04

  • Kansas City charter school succeeds in urban environment

    USD 259, the Wichita public school district, doesn’t want them.

    The Kansas National Education Association (KNEA) — the teachers union — doesn’t want them either.

    But where they’re able to exist, charter schools usually do a good job. They often excel. And where they don’t do a good job, they usually go out of business.

    200 miles from Wichita, in Kansas City, Missouri, a charter school is doing a great job with urban children. Watch the following video about KIPP Endeavor Academy.

  • KNEA call for action overstates case, misleads Kansans

    Today’s edition of Under the Dome Today contains a call for action.

    This newsletter is the update of legislative action provided by KNEA, the Kansas National Education Association. For those of you who might think that an organization with such a lofty name is dedicated to the betterment of the education of Kansas schoolchildren, I must remind you that KNEA is the teachers union. Sorry about that.

    KNEA’s call for action is this:

    “It is critical now that you contact your Representative — especially Republicans. Let them know that cuts of 4.75 per cent will cause serious damage to student learning, cause districts to raise student fees and limit student programs, jeopardize all non-tested programs including foreign languages, art, and music. The state simply must not turn its back on this whole generation of Kansas children and abandon completely the progress made since the settlement of the school finance lawsuit.”

    A few points:

    The 4.75% reduction in funding is calculated considering only the state’s portion of the total funding of school districts. For USD 259, the Wichita public school district, state funding provided 62.7% of all the money this district spent. (2007-2008 school year, according to the Kansas State Department of Education.)

    So the reduction in total school spending, at least in the Wichita district, is quite a bit less than what the KNEA wants you to believe.

    The context of this cut bears mentioning, too. Spending on schools in Kansas in recent years has been increasing rapidly. So rapidly that school apologists either don’t know, or don’t want to admit, just how much schools have to spend. This was demonstrated by Rep. Melody McCray-Miller at a recent legislative forum in Wichita. Wichita board of education member Lanora Nolan disputed these same figures at a Wichita Pachyderm Club meeting.

    How fast has Kansas school spending been increasing? Real fast. The charts at the end of this article illustrate.

    No doubt these cuts will force school districts to cut back. I think that thinking Kansas will agree, however, that schools — if they really want to — will be able to manage the cuts in ways that don’t harm their core mission.

    Kansas school spending per pupil outpaces inflation

    Kansas school state aid per pupil outpaces inflation

  • KNEA: No shared sacrifice

    Despite the fact that Kansas school spending has been increasing rapidly in recent years, and despite the fact that K-12 education has been spared the large cuts that most other state agencies are facing, it’s still okay to whine.

    That’s the attitude of KNEA (the Kansas National Education Association, the teachers union) expressed in the late edition of Under the Dome Today.

    I wish I knew who wrote these flowery dispatches. This issue starts with an extended quotation from Dante’s Inferno, something I may (or may not) have read in college.

    After its excursion into Medieval allegory, this edition describes how the Senate Tax Committee, chaired by Les Donovan of Wichita, decided to not decouple from the federal tax code, decided to not cancel the phase-out of the state tax, and put on hold the phase-out of the corporate franchise tax. (That’s a tax on the simple fact of existence.)

    The KNEA raises the specter of children not being educated at every turn. They did it again in this issue of their newsletter. This is their staple.

    If the ability to educate the children of Kansas hangs in the delicate balance of small shifts in funding, we’re in a lot of trouble. The incessant whining of the KNEA and the rest of the education spending lobby needs to be exposed for just what it is.