Is it open season in the Kansas legislature on teachers, public employees and their unions?  Randy Moss, president United Teachers of Wichita believes it is.  He wrote on the union’s web site last week that, “there has been a subtle shift in the national rhetoric against teachers.” He went on to say that in the wake of the recent killing of students and teachers has made many people more thankful for the job teachers do. “Except in the Kansas Legislature.”

House Bill 2023, the first bill passed by the Kansas House during this legislative session, was designed, according to Moss, “to kill the voice of public sector unions.”  Moss says, “the next effort in Topeka to hurt schools, students and their teachers is to end the right of teachers to negotiate their working conditions. Since a teacher’s working conditions are a child’s learning conditions, attaching teachers is the same as attacking children.”

The Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee is currently considering House Bill 2085, which according to Moss, “effectively eliminates collective bargaining for teachers.” One hundred tenth District Representative Travis Couture-Lovelady of Palco serves on this committee. He will be attending Saturday’s Eggs & Issues legislative forum presented by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce, 8:30 a.m., in the FHSU Robbins Center.

Other than guns, debate over education funding and teachers are among the most controversial this legislative session.