Opinion

GUEST COLUMN, David Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute

The bipartisan Open Enrollment legislation signed into law in 2022 offered hope for students who are trapped by their zip code in underperforming school districts.  The law requires districts to accept students within self-determined capacity limits for each grade level unless the transfer applicants have poor records for behavior or attendance.

One might think Open Enrollment would be embraced in the home state of Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned the separate-but-equal principle and outlawed segregation in public schools.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Liberal Vice Mayor Jeff Parsons

At the April 23 Liberal City Commission meeting, my fellow commissioners and I were able to hear about and address multiple items.

We heard from Oxford House, a residential addiction recovery option. We approved an ordinance establishing an RHID and adopted a development plan to expand housing in Liberal.

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

Last week was an overview of the life of John, one of Jesus' twelve disciples, who wrote the Gospel of John, Revelation, and possibly three letters. Today we'll focus on 1 John, a letter (epistle) written near the end of the author's life. Both it and the Book of John share similar themes - life, love, light, witness, truth, belief, and knowing. Their vocabulary and style are consistent and leave little doubt of their shared authorship.

However, there are notable differences in the Gospel of John and 1 John. The key word in the Gospel is "believe", since it was written to persuade readers that Jesus is the Son of God, and to bring them to salvation: "These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). John's Gospel emphasizes Jesus' divinity.

RYCKMAN RECAP, Ron Ryckman, 38th District Senator

We’ve adjourned until next January 13, 2025 ... or maybe not! That’s because the combined Weeks 14-15 (two days each) of the 2024 Legislature ended with our passing yet a fifth tax relief bill that the Governor has threatened to again veto and call us back into Special Session. Even though SB 37 was adopted by theoretical override margins (108-11 in the House and 25-9 -- with three likely “yeas” absent-- in the Senate), it doesn’t seem to matter when endless compromises are being made to accommodate constantly moving goalposts. The latest version lowered the overall “cost” of the plan by about $15 million – one of the Chief Executive’s demands, but retained a two-tier personal income structure of 5.2% and 5.57%. Our Senate President questioned the logic of having us return at a cost of $84,000 per day, especially with only 20 legislators in both chambers having voted against the plan (165 for). It just seems that at some “point” one has to wonder about the whole point of “making a point!” Any special Session would likely begin in two weeks.