Voice For Liberty

Category: Wichita and Kansas schools

  • Wichita school bond issue economic fallacy

    I have no doubt that the school bond issue in 2000 was a tremendous benefit to Mr. Johnson’s firm. I’m sure Superintendent Brooks, in some way that I don’t understand, benefited from the bond issue, too. As to the rest of the community, however, the benefit claimed by these two men doesn’t exist. It never…

  • Voucher opponents: uninformed or untruthful?

    “The AFT supports parents’ right to send their children to private or religious schools but opposes the use of public funds to do so. The main reason for this opposition is because public funding of private or religious education transfers precious tax dollars from public schools …” This is a typical criticism of school vouchers,…

  • Wichita School System Extends Its Monopoly

    Local school districts claim they want to be held accountable, but they strenuously resist the one way that provides true accountability. That way is the market, where people vote with their dollars and the future welfare of their children. True accountability can be achieved in only one way: let the government of the State of…

  • Wichita school board endorsements

    An incumbent, a candidate endorsed by another incumbent, and a past president of the teachers union: these are three of the four endorsements by The Wichita Eagle for the Wichita Board of Education. These endorsements represent satisfaction with our schools’ current condition. But what do we find when we look at our schools?

  • Wichita school board accounting

    Mr. Gramke’s assertion that USD 259 spending is not increasing, and that the district has been cutting its budget for the four years before 2005 doesn’t square with the facts as I see them.

  • Behind a School Finance Lawsuit

    This is the case in Kansas. The school finance lawsuit and the skirmish between the Kansas Legislature and Kansas Supreme Court drown out any other discussion. Those who fought for more school spending bask in their victory, having saved the children of Kansas. For them, the issue is closed, the problem is solved — at…

  • The Kansas school lawsuit that makes sense

    Recently The Wichita Eagle editorialized on the recent school finance lawsuit in Kansas, quoting USD 259 (Wichita) school board president Sarah Skelton as pleased with the “great return” on the district’s investment in funding the suit. As much more money as the public schools will be receiving, it is not as much as was asked…

  • Tax funded lobbyists spending revealed

    There are lobbyists and there are taxpayer funded lobbyists roaming the halls of the statehouse during the legislative sessions. A small window on the taxpayer funded lobbying opened up following the two separate legal actions of Attorney General Phill Kline and the Topeka Capital-Journal in seeking spending data from the Schools for Fair Funding organization.…

  • Kansas Board of Education election demonstrates one thing

    Looking at some of the comments left on various discussion forums in the state of Kansas, the victors are joyously gleeful in their win and vindictive towards the defeated. I would hazard to guess that the victors were more interested in victory for its own sake, and more motivated by hatred for their rivals, than…

  • Wichita (and Kansas) Democrats illustrate progress in education

    This use of the greengrocers’ apostrophe in the headline of an article on the Kansas Democratic Party’s website on July 25, 2006 tells us something, but I don’t quite know what.

  • School lawsuit likely to resume after election

    School finance lawsuits have been a driving force behind state spending policy for almost two decades in Kansas. The July 28 Kansas Supreme Court ruling only ends the latest and most expensive school finance lawsuit. This decision only creates a brief pause until the inconvenience of the 2006 election is behind us in just over…

  • Kansas Spends While Neighboring States Invest

    Kansas will spend $984.2 million in state funds over the next three years and a record-setting state budget as a result of the 2006 legislature. Alan Rupe, the attorney for the litigious school districts, told the Wichita Eagle that this spending hike is inadequate and demanded more on May 12. The ethically challenged Kansas Supreme…