To the editor:

Our Kansas Constitution protects us. For 60 years it has protected our public schools. The proposed Supreme Court Judicial selection amendment will jeopardize this protection. On Aug. 4, please turn out and vote “no” to the proposed amendment.

The current Kansas political party bosses and the dominant lobbyists that they align with, have a central, unifying effort. They work to benefit those of us with the most money relative to those of us with less. They do this through income tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy. The recent effort began with Gov. Brownback’s 2012 income tax cut fiscal train wreck and has continued with the 2025 flat tax law. This law ended 100 years of U.S. history that said fair taxation meant those of us with more income pay a higher tax rate.

But about half of the state general fund expense is for our public schools. Unless these political bosses can reduce the share of our wealth that we provide our schools, the amount of benefit they can provide to those most wealthy among us is limited. The obstacle to their efforts is the 1966 Kansas Constitutional Amendment that requires the legislature to provide suitable funding for public education. Legislative good will has not determined school funding levels.

It is unlikely that amending the Kansas Constitution to remove the suitable funding requirement would ever be approved by Kansas voters. And so, we now have the proposed amendment to elect Supreme Court Justices on the upcoming Aug. 4 ballot.

The same political party bosses and dominant lobbyists that have worked to benefit the wealthy with tax cuts have initiated and supported this proposed amendment. They and other monied interests regularly pour dollars into political campaigns to elect candidates compliant with their desires. If the amendment is not defeated, there is no reason to expect that they will not do the same with our Kansas Supreme Court Justices. Their campaign money and machinery would work to elect candidates based on a willingness to reduce the share of our wealth that we provide for school funding.

Amendment proponents are essentially silent about Supreme Court enforcement of suitable funding for schools. They try to portray this major reality as nonexistent with their silence. Proponents claim the amendment is being done to serve voters. But they scheduled it for the August primary, where voter turnout is typically much lower and more loyal to party leadership, rather than the November general election, when more of us typically vote. They claim the current use of attorneys to vet Supreme Court Justice candidates is some kind of opportunity for unethical behavior. Attorneys have to abide by the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They can be disciplined and even disbarred for improper behavior. Politicians have no such professional standard or consequence. It was unethical behavior by politicians in 1957, the infamous “triple play”, that led to our current system. They claim that the purpose is to give voters a voice. Voters do have a voice with the current system which requires Justices to win retention elections. Justices have won retention, typically by comfortable margins, indicating that voters are satisfied with the current system. It is political party bosses and lobbyists that are not satisfied.

Our Kansas Constitution protects us. But we have to protect it and protect our schools with our vote. Be sure to be registered and be sure to turn out. Vote “no” in the Aug. 4 election.

John Sturn

Ellinwood