Unwittingly, the Kansas Supreme Court came to the rescue of ultra-conservative legislators.
In no time flat, Gov. Sam Brownback and his cronies set the propaganda wheels in motion making the Supreme Court the enemy of public schools with their threat of closure unless they are better funded.
In a letter to his constituents, Rep. Ronald Ryckman, R-Olathe, and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, accused the Supreme Court of holding students and teachers “hostage” in their quest for power.
Our Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-District 12, was no better.
“I will do everything possible to stop the courts from closing our schools,” she wrote in a June 3 email.
The hypocrisy is stifling.
Please remember, dear citizens of Kansas, it is because legislators have refused to uphold their constitutional duty to public schools that the Supreme Court Justices have ordered their closure.
The justices based their decision on the Kansas Constitution, which makes clear the current method of block funding is especially unfair to poorer school districts such as our USD 257 and fails to meet the constitution’s stipulation that Kansas schools provide an adequate and equitable education to all Kansas children.
EVER SINCE the Court’s May 27 decision, ultra-conservatives have been accusing the state supreme court of being power grabbers.
“We cannot sit idle as Kansas schoolchildren and teachers become collateral damage of the constitutional imbalance,” Ryckman writes.
Unbelievable.
All session long Ryckman has been more than willing to throw students and teachers under the bus in his efforts to downsize funding for public schools. And now he’s their savior?
It’s especially rich for Ryckman to say the court is upsetting the constitutional balance between the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
Ryckman has been a staunch supporter of Gov. Brownback, including his efforts to be granted power to appoint justices to the Supreme Court.
