Now, now let's be fair: Sam "I Don't Believe In Evolution" Brownback isn't the only governor who disrespects teachers. Andrew Cuomo doesn't think they should be included on his education task force either. Neither does Chris Christie. Heck, even Barack Obama doesn't think educators are worth listening to.Kansas school superintendents will tell you that years of tight budgets have provided plenty of incentives to run their districts efficiently.But Gov. Sam Brownback thinks more savings could be wrung out of the state’s public schools, and he has appointed an “efficiency task force” to find them.Curiously, none of the 10 members works in a school.Brownback’s task force is top-heavy with accountants. They occupy six spots. The chairman is Ken Willard of Hutchinson, who serves on the State Board of Education but whose professional expertise is in the insurance industry. Other members hail from the business sector.Intended or not, the exclusion of practicing educators comes across as a show of disrespect for the people in the trenches who understand what resources are necessary to educate the children of Kansas.Once again, Brownback has shown he will heavy-handedly wield the state’s authority over local communities even as he decries the idea that the federal government should have a say in what goes on in the states. [emphasis mine]
All of these guys go on and on about how much they respect teachers and think our jobs are so hard. But when it comes to actually taking the time to listen to us... yeah, not so much. Jerry Brown seems to be one of the few who cares to invite us to the big kids table.
