To the editor:

 I heard two things said about Gov. Brownback when he campaigned for his first term in 2010: “We love Brownback; he’s a voucher guy” and “Brownback won’t be happy until kids are learning their ABC’s in church basement Sunday school classrooms.” Action speaks louder than words, and we are heading in that direction whether it is the governor’s conscious plan or not.

According to reports on National Public Radio, between 400 and 550 teaching positions in Kansas are still open, with less than a month left until schools start. As reported in your editorial last Thursday, at least 3,720 teachers have retired, gone to work in other states or changed professions since last May. In desperation, some schools districts have won the right to hire individuals with no teaching credentials! Block grant funding is crippling many excellent school districts. Future graduates will not be equipped to compete for 21st century jobs.  

While other state legislatures struggle to fund all-day kindergartens and obtain computers for more students, our Legislature struggles to cut more education funds and weasel out of their constitutional mandate to provide quality education for all Kansas children. Unless we change course immediately, the students, teachers and all citizens of Kansas are going to inherit the wind.