I want to show you footage of an awesome piece of testimony before the Kansas legislature's budget committee on the subject of Kansas's entry in the school voucher fad turning up across the nation. HB 2218 has all the usual features of these things, the basic "Here, we'll give you a chunk of money that you can use to buy an assortment of education products" approach is here, plus the usual promise that vendors are free to peddle whatever they like without fear of government oversight of any sort.
That last part is important because part of the lead-up to this cookie-cutter bill has been an embrace of the far right strategy of scorched earth culture war, demonizing teachers and undermining trust in public education, just folks like Chris Rufo and Jay Greene (neither, incidentally, from Kansas) have been encouraging, so that the troops are hearing "school choice" as code for "schools where people will taught good proper christianist education the white way").
Committee chairwoman Kristey Williams, a former teacher from rural Kansas ought to know better, but she clearly doesn't, as noted by columnist Clay Wirestone, who calls out her "joyous expression of nihilism" before writing, "She and fellow Republican committee members appear committed to undermining the public education system that serves a half-million children — and razing the future of our state along the way."
So that's what high school English teacher Dr. Liz Meitl was preparing to testify for the fifth time, a process that she described to me as saying what you have to say and they either ignore you or go on to mischaracterize what you said. And, she said, "I think I just kind of cracked."
The result was this following bit of testimony.
(You can stop watching after she finishes-- my Youtube skills are limited)
The total lack of oversight and regulation, combined with the financial incentives, create an almost irresistible opportunity for those of us with an agenda for our state’s future. Teachers’ dedication to Kansas’s public schools and serving every student will certainly mean almost nothing when we consider the possibilities offered via this legislation.
Meitl's road to this moment really captures much of the education world in the past few decades. She graduated with an undergraduate degree in English and was going to serve with the Peace Corps in a middle eastern country; then 9/11 happened. She started teaching, but then marriage and kids happened and it did not make financial sense for her to work. A mentor convinced her to go back to school where she developed both her PhD and a desire to get back in the classroom. But then COVID hit.
In the meantime, Meitl has been politically active, fighting for public education with middling results. She expresses frustration with politicians who treat teachers like the cause of student struggles rather than the folks who work on the front lines to help students. "They have demonized the hell out of us."
It seems likely that the heavy irony in this testimony failed to move the committee, but God bless her for giving it a shot and giving voice to the frustrations that teachers feel. The real tragedy here is that, as Meitl pointed out, teachers who care about education may actually have to do this. "It is," she said, "both hilarious and sad."
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