Group gets an F

To the editor:

In the last Record I read the article, “County schools question low grades.” It told of a “nonprofit group” who gave lower than expected “grades” to Marion County school districts.

Who is this group giving grades? An agency of the state government? Department of Education? Neutral, unbiased, non-partisan group? Not on your life.

Kansas Policy Institute was giving the ratings. Who are they? First, they are associated with the Koch brothers (well, the one brother left) as “part of a network of state-based think tanks whose purpose is to push right-wing legislation that benefits corporate donors,” according to Wikipedia.

The Koch Brothers also are associated with Americans for Prosperity and Kansans for Prosperity. The purpose of these groups is to push for “school choice” (code words for vouchers) and cutting taxes so rich people can get richer.

Vouchers, of course, are an unconstitutional effort to steal money from public schools and in some convoluted way give it to private schools.

They skirt around the law by giving money to rich white Republican families, sometimes by fancy tax credit maneuvers.

The words “school choice” and “competition” also are funny because public schools in Kansas always have given students the choice to go to other schools.

And “competition”— are you kidding? Private schools get to cherry-pick the best students, and deny lower students or those with disabilities. Public schools have to take everyone.

To compare public to private schools is a diversion at best. I’m waiting for the day when private and home schools have to follow all the standards that the public schools do.

So, bottom line, the Kansas Policy Institute is a “think tank” that is far from neutral. Its job is to write papers, promote candidates, and push agendas that are far-right conservative.

As such, the report that was covered in the Record isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. All people hear is negativity about public schools.

I’d rather focus on reality. Every year, excellent students walk across the stage and go on to higher education.

At Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church’s monthly senior coffee, we heard a teacher from Hesston who was one of eight finalists for Kansas Teacher of the Year. The team of eight travels the state to talk to students in large, medium, and small high schools.

The slides we saw of fantastic innovative programs were breathtaking. Some really excellent education is going on in Kansas, yet you rarely hear of it.

Superintendents, I wouldn’t sweat this report. A report that has a biased agenda from the start to tear down your school isn’t helpful to anyone.

Brian D. Stucky
Goessel