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Page 12
The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise, Thursday,
It looks like we have about
a month for the campaign for
Kansas governor to switch
gears from a campaign about
not much of anything into a
campaign about...well...
something. Or, not.
So far, let's see, we have
both Republican Tim Shallen-
burger and Democrat Kathleen
Sebelius who have made K- 12,
or maybe even all education,
their~first priority.
We're presuming that it's
the last thing they think about
before they go to sleep at
night.
And we figure that while
they're sleeping, they both,
independently, dream about
being governor and riding
around in a big blue Ford and
maybe renting out their homes
while they get to sleep at Ce-
dar Crest.
(It's not like either has a
home in, say, Mission Hills
where they can get away for
the weekend like Gov. Bill
Graves. Sebelius lives maybe
three miles from Cedar Crest.
Shallenburger lives maybe a
block and a half away...short
enough that if the first few
days in office, the paper car-
der doesn't get the subscrip-
tion switched, Shallenburger
can pad down to the old house
to pick up the paper and carry
it back to Cedar Crest to read.)
Then, after an exhausting
night dreaming, we're betting
that they wake up and get
back to thinking about educa-
tion again.
Which is not all bad, mind
you, but thinking about edu-
cation all the time is about like
thinking about Christmas. It
just happens. When it hap-
pens in a year when things
have been going well, we have
a big Christmas and the front
room is littered with wrapping
paper. When Christmas hap-
pens in a year when not much
went right, there's less wrap-
ping paper under the tree.
The point is, there's not
much under the tree this year.
If either candidate has a way
to do anything more than just
keep funding for education
stable, they're not telling us
about it. So, we're figuring the
K-12 education is going to be
essentially frozen--which may
look good in comparison to
most other activities that state
government finances.
Clearly, each wants to do
some different things with
October 3, 2002
elementary and secondary
funding. But the point may be
that they're going to have
about the same amount ol
money with which to do it. At
the end of the day, if you look
at all the school districts in
the state as comprising the
state's elementary education,
every dollar they want spent
on it is going to be spent with
the same districts.
We're not seeing a lot of
big-deal changes in elementary
and secondary education. If
there was a lot of money laying
around the state treasury,
maybe we'd see some real dif-
ferences, some Haft Mary play
that would make a real differ-
ence, but in terms of dollars
being spent on public educa-
tion, not much changes.
So what else do the candi-
dates fight over? Well, there is
concealed carry of guns,
Shallenburger's for it, Sebelius
isn't, but that's not exactly a
door-to-door, argue with your
neighbors issue. It's a sideline
issue.
Both candidates are in-
tensely interested in agricul-
ture. Shallenburger keeps
talking about underground
drip irrigation, whatever that
is, and Sebelius talks about
hiring a real go-getter for a
State Secretary of Agriculture
eto go get whatever's out there
for ag. Again, we can read
between the lines.
Neither is thinking about
ag every minute they aren't
thinking about education or
dreaming about riding in a
blue Ford.
Economic development and
jobs? Well, education has a
role in both of those, both say,
and while Sebelius keeps
talking education, Shallen-
burger maintains that stable
or even lower taxes are a big
deal to business. We're think-
ing Shallenburger's probably
right here, but Sebelius gets
points, too, because we can't
think of a business that wants
to move to a state where the
workforce is so poorly edu-
cated that it keeps getting
wrapped up in the machines.
The environment? Here,
the best a governor can hope
for is that whatever turns out
to be good for the environment
isn't bad for farmers, or if it is
bad for farmers, that the fed-
eral government will have
some sort of program to make
it fight.
Crime? Both solidly
against. It's safe to talk about,
nobody likes crime, and the
best part of talking about
crime now is that both candi-
dates are far too smart to ask
the second question about
getting tough. The second
question is whether we have
enough prison cells to lock up
these people we're newly get-
ting serious about, or whether
we need to build a new prison
to contain them. They're safest
just talking getting tough, not
any of the ramifications of
getting tough.
But for now, well, we're not
hearing a lot about grand de-
signs for state government,
about sweeping new programs.
Nope, we're hearing mostly
about stuff we're already do-
ing, stuff that doesn't cost any
money, and stuff
us never really
about until, in
anything else
we're
about now
But, come to
it, it would be
around in a big,
Martin
of Hawver's
see about that,
5500, or visit the
When
(NAPS)--A
and
of finding
their nei
the Earth.
For example, t
of St.
Orleans runs
minum can
Monies raised
gram help to
ment and are
tain and
parks. In 2001,
butions
trees
Other schoo
tions run
to raise money
towns or
Americans
billion dollars in
their aluminum
cling also hellc
energy to
for four
Organiza
that help
minum can ree
run in the area.
visit
Maple Hill Fall Festival 2002 -
cont. from page one
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MAPLE HILL
TEACHERS
HAVE cq, S¢
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