Thoughts from Kansas

A year ago, Kansas Board of Ed. member Connie Morris got in hot water. She went to a conference on magnet schools, stayed in a hotel that charges as much per night as lots of people spend on monthly rent, and she doesn't even represent any magnet schools. In the midst of a scandal about the thousands of dollars the state was spending to import creationists, Connie was compelled to pay back some of the costs, especially when her receipts didn't add up. If she stayed in a hotel close to the conference, why did she need to spend money on a rental car?

Having lost her bid for re-election, Connie ought to be working on a sequel to her memoirs. I'm sure we're all anxious to learn about the sex, drug and rock-'n'-roll adventures on a school board. Alas, we will all have to wait, because the Journal World reports "Morris to travel to D.C. weeks before term ends":

Kansas State Board of Education member Connie Morris will be in Washington, D.C., at taxpayer expense two weeks before her term expires.

Without comment, the State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved a request from Morris to have her travel and expenses paid for a visit to D.C. from Dec. 16-23. Her board salary of approximately $87 per day for six of those days also would be paid under the request.

The reason for the D.C. trip, Morris stated on her request form, was to have multiple meetings with immigration and education organizations and other elected officials.

The board also approved Morris’ travel request to attend a conference Oct. 13-14 in Bloomington, Minn., of a group called EdWatch, Education for a FREE nation.

The group will feature speakers on subjects such as:

• How international baccalaureate undermines American citizenship;

• How mental health screening affects gun ownership rights;

• Minority and low-income families as psychiatric guinea pigs.

For what it's worth, EdWatch seems to think that the Department of Education is a communist conspiracy of some sort, and "is committed to educating the public about the unprecedented movement of the U.S. workforce, the U.S. economy and the entire educational system toward a centrally planned and controlled federal system." They also have some sort of beef with the essays on the SAT. Why asking students to "write an essay that requires them to take a position on an issue and use examples to support their position" is going to lead to the communist take-over gets a bit fuzzy. The best thing to do is head over to the Mungers' and take the test yourself.