A report presented last week to the Kansas State Board of Education, based on information collected in February, showed dramatic increases in teacher retirements and layoffs during the past two years, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. More than 1,500 teachers retired in the 2010-11 school year, compared with an annual range of 1,028 to 1,092 over the four previous years, according to the report. Reductions in force totaled 350 this school year and 260 last year, compared with the previous three years’ reductions of 49, 21 and 7. State board chairman David Dennis of Wichita attributed the retirements and layoffs to funding cuts, low pay and a push by GOP leaders to switch the state’s pension to a 401(k)-style plan. “There are a tremendous number of attacks going on against teachers today,” Dennis said. He added: “If I was in college right now looking at what I want to do with the rest of my life, I am not sure I would choose teaching as a profession.”
The governor, Kansas House speaker and Kansas Senate president have five college degrees between them. But according to a study by the Chronicle of Higher Education, just 68.6 percent of Kansas state legislators have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 74.7 percent of state lawmakers nationally, 87.3 percent in next-door Nebraska and 86.2 percent in Texas. Ideally, the educational makeup of the Kansas Legislature should reflect that of Kansans. But the statistic may help explain why the percentage of state support for higher education has slid so dramatically in Kansas over recent decades, including by 13.4 percent in the past three years. California tops the list for educated lawmakers, with 89.9 percent holding bachelor’s degrees or higher.
As the tuition increases of up to 6.9 percent newly approved by the Kansas Board of Regents further burden students attending the state’s public universities, those institutions should feel more pressure to find private dollars for scholarships. Meanwhile, with universities now getting more of their money from students than from the state, lawmakers and Gov. Sam Brownback should feel pressure to decide whether higher education is a high priority at the Capitol, or whether they are OK with putting these universities out of some Kansans’ reach and pushing others deeper into student-loan debt. At Wichita State University, where tuition will rise 6 percent, a student will pay about $234 more for the fall semester.
“When you’re out of politics, people think you weren’t so bad after all.” — former Sen. Bob Dole, during his visit to Russell
“Articulate and a good speaker. As long as the teleprompter is working, he’ll be OK.” — Dole again, on President Obama’s re-election campaign
“Roy made me a better senator. I realized that you pay attention to Kansans first.” — Dole again, on his 1974 re-election challenger, Democratic Rep. Bill Roy
“The Russians would have been proud.” — Ed McKechnie of Arcadia, joking about how quickly he was nominated and elected chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents
“Isn’t politics great? If we didn’t have something to complain about, we wouldn’t have politics.” — Senate Majority Leader Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, on Democrats’ griping about the governor’s trip unveiling transportation plan projects
A report presented last week to the Kansas State Board of Education, based on information collected in February, showed dramatic increases in teacher retirements and layoffs during the past two years, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. More than 1,500 teachers retired in the 2010-11 school year, compared with an annual range of 1,028 to 1,092 over the four previous years, according to the report. Reductions in force totaled 350 this school year and 260 last year, compared with the previous three years’ reductions of 49, 21 and 7. State board chairman David Dennis of Wichita attributed the retirements and layoffs to funding cuts, low pay and a push by GOP leaders to switch the state’s pension to a 401(k)-style plan. “There are a tremendous number of attacks going on against teachers today,” Dennis said. He added: “If I was in college right now looking at what I want to do with the rest of my life, I am not sure I would choose teaching as a profession.”
