March 2023

Kansas owes its kids. It owes them protection.

Professor Donald B. Scheick was a Professor of History at Indiana State University. I was in his Ancient History class in 1965 when he first took attendance and assigned our textbook and readings. And then he began asking questions. “Mr. Schrock. Who was Abraham?” Answers on this first day of class did not have to be correct, because we had just received our assignment. But correct answers to questions would be critical in all his future class sessions, because he taught completely by asking questions. These were not questions that could easily be answered by memorizing facts. He forced us to consider the motivations for historical actions and the consequences that would have likely occurred if events had gone other directions. Boy did we learn to think!

Kansas is officially a Home Rule state. It has been since 1961, when an amendment to the Kansas state constitution officially declared that Kansas cities are “empowered to determine their local affairs…except when” such actions are “limited or prohibited” by an act of the state legislature. That’s an important acknowledgement of local democracy—or at least potentially so.