While the Biden administration and others are looking at how to unburden Americans by canceling student loan debt, the State of Kansas legislature has another idea: Why not just cancel education itself? If your local K-12 school is doing remote learning, you can check out and just get a voucher. If you have already attended classes at any of the state universities and those classes were held online, the university will be required to refund your tuition. Universities, which had been voluntarily working with students to help provide them a path forward, found themselves shut out of the process, unable to testify before the committee as the legislation rushed forward.
In the Kansas City Star, Lenexa Democrat Rep. Brandon Woodard noted: “It was reckless. We literally just made a decision to wreck the budgets of our universities without allowing them to testify.”
Colleges, universities, community colleges, and technical schools will all be affected. The impact on these schools is unknown, and that isn’t even the end of the proposal. You see, mixed into this is another level: vouchers to privatize K-12.
Another House committee has approved a measure that, if passed by the House and Senate, would allow parents of k-12 students with at least 120 consecutive hours of online instruction to use their state per-pupil funding on private schools through an education savings account.
Lawmakers have expressed concern that students are falling behind academically and suffering psychologically in online school.
“I’ve talked to many parents who tell me that their kids aren’t learning, that several of them watch their kids cheat on their final exams because they take it together,” said Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stillwell Republican who introduced the amendment.
Statehouse Republicans—who have by and large traded on the thought that COVID-19 is not a valid reason to stop business and all business should be open—are now preparing to say it’s the fault of those who tried to keep their staff safe and they should be punished for doing so, going as far as to offer a set “per pupil” cost to families so the children can go to a private school that may include just homeschooling their student.
It’s okay though, because we expect you to go teach your class and risk death. Maybe you’re a returning to college student; it’s okay for you to get sick too — all because Republicans don’t want to believe COVID-19 is real.