We live in an increasingly complex society. The volume of known information has grown by tenfold in the last 10 years. The car I just purchased has, count ‘em, 17 computers that provide the comfort and performance I’ve come to expect. And America, as the greatest user of information, goods and technology in the world, is thirsty for new engineers, doctors, customer care professionals and many others.
 
This economy of the 21st century requires a reading level of 10th grade or above and mathematics skills that do not rely on memorization of tables but understanding of complex concepts. In the 1960s, public education prepared workers for a future job and 20% of the workforce was required to be highly skilled. Today, only 20% of jobs are un-skilled, and workers are preparing not for one future job but for careers that span an average of 4 different occupations over their lifetimes.
 
Kansas has a great track record in public education and is consistently placed in the Top 10 by any measure. However, even with this level of performance, 30% of Kansas high school graduates fall below that 10th grade reading level needed for today’s world. And 50% of Kansas students don’t have a grasp of required math skills. The world is changing and Kansas education needs to change with it.
 
Education changes must start with moderate and informed policy. The current six-member majority of the Kansas State Board of Education is not focused on broad-based structures and policy initiatives that address preparation for the future. Instead, they have allowed themselves to be distracted by ideological wedge issues.
 
Concern over evolution in science standards, a tiny percentage of student classroom experience, has distracted the Board from making decisions crucial to the future of education. One of the most crucial decisions for the Board came this year in the selection of the new Commissioner of Education. Having set in place a sound process for considering candidates, the Board discarded their own selection process and minimum standards for candidates and selected Bob Corkins as Commissioner of Education.
 
Bob Corkins does not have the training or practical experience as an education policy-maker. Neither has he managed more than 2 people in his career, let alone a department of over 200 people and a budget of over $3 million. Even Bob Corkins said he had a lack of background in the classroom and school administration – but he believes people will look beyond that. We need informed and experienced leaders, not idealogues who want their lack of experience to be overlooked.

Worse yet, Bob Corkins has a proven record in opposition of public education. Yet he shares the idealogical beliefs of the six-member majority and therefore was selected as the leader for public education policy implementation in the state of Kansas. This is what we get when we have a Board distracted from high quality and focused on narrow issues. 

The debates over science standards are another excellent example of not only distraction from quality but lack of focus on informed policy making. In 2004, the Board appointed a committee of scientists, science educators and research professionals to evaluate the current science standards. When that qualified committee returned with results of their evaluation, the 6-member majority presented a counter-report with different recommendations, including the re-definition of science to include super-natural causes. This 6-member majority sought supporters of their own ideological beliefs and cut the legs out from under their own appointed committee. And returned Kansas to the world spotlight as a squabbling backwoods state where public officials are more interested in codifying their personal beliefs than preparing all children for a competitive world economy. Meanwhile, in a time when the hiring of qualified science teachers is becoming increasingly difficult, this unfortunate intramural squabble is amplifying the problem for all school districts in the state. 

These types of decisions and debates undermine our credibility outside the state and demoralize our professionals in the field. It is time to re-focus efforts on quality education that brings students to higher levels of basic skills and continuous evaluation and design of educational standards and methods to ensure relevance in today’s society.

The good news is that there are qualified, informed and moderate candidates in the 2006 races for the State Board. When these candidates are endorsed by KAE, information about them will be posted on the website. Links to their individual campaign websites will also be provided. Please visit them to learn more about qualified candidates across the state.

The Kansas Alliance for Education is committed to the election of informed and moderate candidates focused on high quality public education. These elections will be long, difficult and expensive. Please lend your support to quality public education by making a contribution to the Kansas Alliance for Education. With your help, we can reach more people to ensure voters turn out to support quality public education.