Brownback signs 'Celebrate Freedom Week' bill

So less than a month into school, my granddaughter in kindergarten has to stop learning how to read and write so that she can be taught about the constitution. I can hardly wait to hear her interpretation of this lesson. Hopefully, she will learn that all men (and women) are created equal. I wonder if they will teach her about how black people were counted as 3/5 of a person. She won't get it because she doesn't understand fractions or slavery.

May 24, 2013 at 3:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Budget provision would block state funding for Common Core standards

Teachers knew that NCLB was a flawed system. We called it NTLS for "no teacher left standing." NCLB violated everthing we learned in our testing and measurement classes. But we were never asked. We were told to do it and that is what we did knowing full well that all schools would eventually fail. Even with countless weeks spent teaching to the test, 100% of our students will never reach proficiency. The only value of NCLB was to get people talking and working together to come up with something better. The Common Core resulted from those talks.

May 17, 2013 at 10:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Budget provision would block state funding for Common Core standards

Wow. Where did you get this information? The Common Core came from a group of states getting together to make sure that all kids were being prepared for higher education. Nothing keeps schools from developing more rigorous requirements. The federal government had nothing to do with the Common Core and money from the feds is not being given or withheld because of this curriculum. It is time that education be made more consistent throughout the country as children move from district to district, state to state. Why don't you want our children to be on the same footing as kids in other states? Or do you just want our kids to be like those in Louisiana who are learning that humans and dinosaurs shared the planet at the same time. Luckily for Louisiana kids, a judge struck down their voucher program so the State won't be paying for kids to learn creationism in science class.

May 17, 2013 at 10:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

State Board hears opposition to Common Core Standards

I agreed with you until you got to the part about local schools being controlled by teachers' unions. Local schools are controlled by local school boards which are elected and often run by people who have an axe to grind. Many have little education themselves. Teachers and teachers' unions have little input into what classes are taught or where the money is spent. The United States does not have one of the lowest performing public school systems in the industrialized world. In fact many countries have tried to copy our system. What we do is educate every child who comes through the door regardless of whether that child is homeless or comes to school without breakfast. We see children who have been beaten and sexually abused. Teachers are the ones on the front lines but they are the ones who get bashed every time someone wants to destroy public education. I have not studied the Common Core but my daughter who is a teacher likes them so I hope it will be what is needed. Unfortunately until children come to school ready to learn teachers will still be faced with daunting tasks. (Sorry there are no commas. That key is not working on my keyboard.)

May 15, 2013 at 6:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Revenue secretary says tax cuts are working

How can something be working when the new tax rates have not taken effect yet? Our tax rate was the same this year as last. Just wait until next April.

May 6, 2013 at 6:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Letter: Gun ‘rights’

It's funny how everyone knows exactly what the Constitution means in regards to the 2nd Amendment, but no one knows what it says in Article 1, Section 8: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

That seems pretty clear to me that the purpose of the 2nd Amendment was to make sure that people had guns when they were called upon to prtect the union from insurrections and invasions. No mention of protection from the government, but to provide for calling forth the Militia. Remember there was no standing army. Now, we have a standing army and the military provides the weapons.

April 29, 2013 at 9:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Big revenue decrease projected for fiscal year starting July 1

Are you part of KPERs? I always had to add KPERs contributions back into my Kansas tax liability because we pay when it goes out, but not when we get it back. So now that I am retired, I get to deduct KPERs from Ks tax which is nice?

April 22, 2013 at 4:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Editorial: Border battle

Sad that those people don't realize that their property taxes will soon increase to make up for any income tax savings. Also sales tax on food and everything else. I bet those people already worked in Kansas and just didn't want to keep paying both states.

April 5, 2013 at 7:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Gun rights bills on target for final passage

What about my right to go to a basketball game and not be surrounded by people with guns all caught up in the competition. What about the right of my daughter who is a teacher not to have a parent with a concealed weapon at parent teacher conferences?
Why does a gun get more rights than I do? Why does KK get to voice his opinion about anything? He is Sec of State - his only job is to oversee elections.

April 4, 2013 at 7:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Brownback signs into law the paycheck deductions bill that KNEA opposes

No, the law says that all dues for any professional organization such as KNEA, AFT, etc. cannot be deducted from our paycheck. Only $20 of dues goes to the PAC and that is voluntary. You have to approve it or it won't be taken out. If it were only the PAC money, there argument might hold water, but it is all dues and no one is coerced to belong to the organization.

April 2, 2013 at 7:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )