Opinion

GUEST COLUMN, Don Alexander, Parsons

Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are not optional. They are not privileges handed out when convenient. They are foundational rights guaranteed to every American. The authors of our Constitution enshrined them not as suggestions, but as bedrock principles meant to endure. These freedoms do not come from Washington, D.C. They come from God and are recognized in our founding documents so that no official, no matter how powerful, can take them away.

GUEST COLUMN, Marty Bohannon, Ottawa

Kansans know the strength of our communities comes from people helping one another — not from government edicts. Yet proposals in Washington threaten to inject politics into the pulpit by giving federal officials new authority over churches and nonprofits.

Our churches don’t need permission to preach truth or to serve the hungry. Food pantries, crisis pregnancy centers, and faith-based charities step in when families struggle, not because they’re political, but because their faith compels them.

If Congress empowers bureaucrats to decide which sermons or service projects are “acceptable,” then freedom of religion becomes a privilege instead of a right. That should alarm everyone, regardless of party.

The First Amendment wasn’t written to protect the popular — it was written to protect the principled. Kansans won’t sit quietly while Washington decides who is allowed to speak.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Andrew Potter, LHS Unified Bowling coach

To those who wonder what newer activities bring to Liberal High School students and our community: As the LHS boys/girls bowling coach and unified bowling coach, I would like to share some insight into what having bowling at LHS means to our school and community.

Each season, we have the privilege of providing 30-plus students the opportunity to be called student-athletes. As you may know, research consistently shows that participation in extracurricular activities helps students develop skills and opportunities that enhance their college and career prospects. Because of the opportunities bowling has created, we have been able to send numerous student-athletes on to compete at the collegiate level. Some are students who may not have pursued higher education without this pathway.

GUEST COLUMN, David Trabert, Kansas Policy Institute

When something sounds too good to be true, it often is — like the State School Board and the Kansas Department of Education claiming that skyrocketing proficiency levels are not related to the state dumbing down proficiency standards. Now, the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) is joining the chorus with a new video denying that proficiency standards were reduced.

Entitled “Why Kansas Adjusted Cut Scores,” the video attempts to convince parents that the State School Board didn’t reduce proficiency standards, but is merely adjusting previously misaligned standards to “give a fairer, more accurate picture.”

KASB and the State Board of Education want you to believe, for example, that eighth-grader reading proficiency jumped from just 22 percent last year to 46 percent without changing the proficiency standard. Their allegation that previous results were inaccurate doesn’t stand up to the facts.