A Facebook posting this weekend had an ominous tone: “If you think your property taxes are high in Kansas, just wait. The Kansas school finance lawsuit could be costly.”
With this warning came a link to a story that purported if the Kansas Supreme Court rules in favor of school districts wanting adequate funding then expect to see property taxes go up by 55 percent; or sales taxes go to 9.8 percent; or income taxes increase 54 percent to fund total aid per pupil of a whopping $17,000.
Hogwash.
The doom and gloom is courtesy of the Kansas Policy Institute, an ultra-conservative think tank.
Of course what is truly scary is if our schools are allowed to founder.
Kansas schools remain seriously underfunded, even with a recent $40 million boost from this last legislative session.
Currently, state aid for funding is $3,838 per pupil. Studies have said it should be $5,723.
Since 2009, school districts have had to drastically cut teachers, staff, class offerings, supplies, as well as physical needs to buildings.
A teacher starting in Kansas can expect to be paid $27,840 — that’s 40th in the nation. For the last four years teacher salaries have been frozen.
For the second time in a decade, Kansas school districts are again waging legal battle against the state to fulfill its commitment to education.
There was a time we could be proud of the support we gave our schools. The recent tax cuts, however, create a serious setback.
Gov. Sam Brownback defends the tax cuts by saying they will bring new jobs. Trickle-down economics have failed in every other country — think Greece, Spain and Italy — and yet the governor assures us if the wealthy can get wealthier, that will encourage expansion in state industries.
By this methodology, Kansas will need to add 500,000 new jobs each paying $50,000 — starting today — to avoid economic ruin.
WHEN IT COMES to education, more — not less — is needed to compete in a global market.
The jobs of yesterday are not the jobs of today, nor especially those of tomorrow.
Technology has eliminated many middle-management jobs. Clerks, secretaries, assistants have been displaced by QuickBooks and email. Software makes it easier for people to digitize and manipulate data.
Our march to progress is not creating more jobs; but fewer that are more specialized.
A demand for low-level jobs such as janitors and waitresses is growing alongside that of people with complex skills such as software engineering. Economists call this labor polarization.
That’s why even college graduates settle for jobs waiting tables until a job in their field opens up.
A college degree in today’s world does not guarantee a job upon graduation. Employers have the luxury of shopping for the best.
That said, unemployment for college graduates is about 4 percent, compared to the national average of 8.2 percent.
ENGINEERS, especially U.S.-born, are the highest in demand of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum.
The U.S. Navy, for instance, routinely employs 35,000 STEM graduates. Over the next 10 years, the retiring baby boomers will shrink that force by half.
Problem is, about 70 percent of those pursuing doctorates in engineering are from India, China — anywhere but here.
With a policy of hiring only U.S. citizens, primarily for security reasons, our own forces are facing a dearth of expertise.
This is being played out all over the United States. In education and private-sector business, we’re suffering a brain drain because our own children are failing to compete at an international level, coupled by the fact that other countries have devoted resources to vastly improve their schools, keeping their intellectual resources home.
WHAT CAN WE do? Give education/educators the respect they deserve.
Our country’s future lies in the education of our children. Teaching should be the most respected career in the U.S.
Instead, Kansas’ education climate is demoralizing.
We can right this sinking ship by paying teachers a respectable income, funding our schools so that they have adequate resources to purchase cutting-edge technology and the other tools needed to bring U.S. students where they should be — front of the class.
— Susan Lynn