Education Lobby Suddenly Realizes There Is No Money Tree

I don't want anyone to die of shock, so have your nitroglycerin pills handy as you prepare to read on. The media and their lobbyists for higher school administration salaries friends are being intellectually dishonest.

The education lobby has just realized that Kansas' budget picture may make giving every last cent in the state to fund public school administrators difficult. Guys, after years of listening to these people complain that the Kansas Legislature should just raise a few measly taxes and make public schools great again, the lefties are just now realizing that they may not be able to wave a magic wand and instantly direct money from your wallet to administrator salaries. 

It's ALMOST as if conservatives have been saying this very thing all along.

Over at the Topeka Capital-Journal, a reporter has just discovered that Kansas' budget picture may create a challenge for the new bunch of so-called moderates and their Democrat friends. He opines:

"The stunningly bad revenue picture Kansas now faces carries the potential to act as a roadblock as lawmakers seek to pay for an anticipated school finance ruling."

And then the team captain of the teacher's union, who ironically works for the association of school boards, is suddenly agreeing that it might not be the world's best decision to cut every other program and fund only schools. He seems almost OK with a public education funding cut, which I note, schools have yet to take an actual cut. They're getting as much or more money than they ever have. 

Mark Tallman says, "Obviously, we don't want to be cut, but how the Legislature deals with (the budget shortfall)--if you don't include schools you magnify everyone else's cuts, which has an impact on communities. You include schools, you're worsening their ability to provide a constitutionally-suitable education."

And all of a sudden, the lobbyist for the Wichita public schools also has noticed that there isn't a money tree out behind the Capitol.

"These numbers--they're deeper than I thought they were going to be," Diane Gjerstad told the Cap-J.

So wait, you mean conservative lawmakers have been making difficult decisions all along? 

This story is nothing but cover for the liberal legislators-elect. The goal is to make it seem as if they will have no choice but to back away from some of the ridiculous promises they made on the campaign trail. Even without projected shortfalls, many of the so-called mods were making promises they were never going to be able to fulfill.

Voters had a choice between honest candidates who attempted to explain that there isn't a money tree out back, and dishonest people who pretended that they could just magically make money appear through some cash dance of the moderates.

Now, I don't mind a healthy debate about the budget, but I do mind the intellectually dishonest approach of the media which pretended all throughout the campaign that if only conservatives were ousted, the budget problems would resolve themselves. It's dishonest. It's unfair, and it's gross. 

The media's job is to tell the truth--not to provide a narrative that offers political coverage to some and a knife in the backside to others.