While reading the McPherson Newspaper I was so pleased to see the Opinion section having Jerry Moran talking about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program.

I agree with Congressman Moran. I made comment on NCLB on my “get to know Randy Conyers” DVD. My comments were loaded on the Internet YouTube.com site back in February under Education Part 1 & 2.

Both Congressman Moran and myself express our concern on Teaching By Test rather than giving the student the opportunity to excel. Being a previous teacher I know much on this subject. If my intent, as an educator, is to produce top scores all I have to do is teach what is on the test. It is very tempting to do. It will help with funding for my school, it will let your community perceive that you have educational excellence and give your child a false sense of self-esteem. What kind of education is that for your child?

I personally know of a teacher who made the decision to teach by test. Large corporations were notified that there is a class ready to graduate with the highest test scores in the history of the school. The scores made everyone have much joy. Student placement would be in high paying jobs. Corporations wanted to have extensive interviews with these students. Not a single student was offered a job. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company followed up with the school. They wanted to have a personal investigation. They desperately needed employees. Their hopes were high. The finding was the students were taught what was on the school’s test.

Congressman Moran states he will strive for improvements. “We must make sure we do not take the joy out of teachers teaching and students learning.” I have the name for this. Student Training on Gaining Excellence Reform. The acronym is STRONGER.

Jerry Moran stated it this way. “Strong schools are the foundation for strong communities, which ultimately make for a better Kansas."

I would like to sponsor a house bill, which will be known as STRONGER.

Rather than having a system called NCLB I propose STRONGER. Going from no child left behind to a system that will allow every student to excel, to have joy in teaching, to have joy in learning is the mindset I strive for.

This is one of the reasons that I am running for the House of Representatives for McPherson, Lindsborg, Galva and Canton.

This is Randy Conyers for a STRONGER Kansas.

I have to stop and reflect. Everything I'm doing in public service is for my sons and grandson. I'm trying to give back after I lost everything and could not function for a few years.

My oldest who is 27 is at an all inclusive resort in Mexico tonight. This is his 3rd time there. Then he will come back home and work a few days. I say a few days because I just found out he will be taking another trip to Vegas. I think he's done with his ski trips for the year.

My middle son who is 26 showed me his new purchase and is going to let me have it to drive in the ASD parade. A black chevy Avalance that has every optional available plus after-market products that gives it a uniqueness and looks like no other truck does. His business life is doing well. Well enough that purchasing gas is not a problem.

My youngest son who is 24 enjoys playing poker. It's recreational fun for him. I can't believe he plays in the WPT. After his first WPT in Vegas I talked with him about it. He just didn't have the cards and was not accustomed to playing under the bright TV lights. What was more fun for him was meeting the players he knew from watching them play on TV. The actual money is not the focus as he will have his good days and bad days.

If you are reading this blog you might perceive these young men just doing what you are doing or perhaps you think of them as rich kids or just plain spoiled. I don't know your thoughts about them just by describing what they are doing. What I can tell you is that the only way that they could go to college was taking out student loans. I simply didn't have enough money. The two youngest are graduates of Wichita State. The oldest is a graduate of going through life.

Let's see if I can sum this up.

The oldest had some bad jobs that were not acceptable. The only way he could find a good job was experiencing the bad ones. When he found his ninch in life he saw a possibility and went for it. Going on all these trips are the result of working hard that are rewards from the company he works for. When he works he works hard. When he plays, he plays.

The middle son is always looking for an opportunity. When he sees a good deal he turns it into a great deal. The truck is a result of good business sense.

The youngest son makes double payments on his loans to keep from paying interest. He despises paying interest and will make double payments on his SUV and school loans. He knows the value of a dollar and takes care of himself financially. It has nothing to do with his gambling. Gambling doesn't pay bills. What he knows is that he has to take risks to win. If he is losing he has to weigh the costs. Does he cut his losses short and get out now or does he continue to put more money in to the pot?

In reading this blog back to myself I see why they have the things they have and do what they do at their young age. I guess I wasn't that bad of a father after all, as long as you don't listen to their mother.

After reflecting I'm sure when they're my age the statement will be:

Everything I'm doing in public service is for my sons and grandson.

I can finally go to sleep knowing life in their 20's is going just fine.

Good night

When you say the word Change one's mindset automatically thinks of something new that comes to be, something old that passes away, and something that stays the same throughout. What a powerful word!

Change is the law of life. If you only look to the past or present, I call that Education grades K-12, you are certain to miss the future. Most of us have a desire within us to see and experience the future.

That's what we are searching for.

Leadership Drives for change and improvement; does not accept the status quo.

It is in your nature to be an explorer. In you is a desire to look for what is to come, which is the future. That searching is called Change.

Saying the word change will automatically start doing what I have said above. It is as if this word is a trigger because it is the law of life.

I was in the computer software business for 32 years. I was a designer, a software engineer. It was my job to use computers to change what you think and how you do things, changing of your belief system. I was changing what people were doing in their workplace. Changing their mindset. I can summarize what I did for an occupation. I changed things. I was using the law of life.

In this paragraph I am going to talk about something I should never talk about in text. But I will go out on a limb and do it. Most people know about Jesus Christ. Some know him so well that they use his name all of the time while they are talking. For some people they use it even more when they are upset or angry, not advisable but they do. He repeatedly used a word over and over again. He would tell people to Repent, Repent, Repent. Why? Because of what the word meant to the people. Change your ways, Change the way you think, Change the way you live.

With everything I have said in this blog, CHANGE.

In my profession I changed the way businesses went about doing things. I would change how they went about doing their accounting, how insurance companies paid claims and consulting. I changed mindsets. For each project I always had a code name which was actually an acronym that was directly related to the issue. The capital letters of each word makes the code name.

The list below are for my issues of concerns that I will be addressing in public service.

Issue Acronyms

Education

Stronger - Student TRaining ON Gaining Excellence Reform

Health Care

Come, heap pain

- COnyers MEdical HEAlth Plan Premium, Affordable INsurance

Jobs

Money - Minimum Obligation No Employee Yearns

Wages - Without Any Gain Employee Suffers
Wages - With A Goal Employee Stays

Net - No Employee Training

Gain - Gives Attitude Intensity Nothing.

Net Gain - No Employee Training Gives Attitude Intensity Nothing.

Energy Sources

Energy - Educating Nuclear Energy Rewarding Growing Youth

Global Warming

Eat Coram - EArth Taking Corrective Action Measures

Farm Bill

Franklin, a Roosevelt Man Brought in Leaser’s Land
Built In Lessee’s Loss

(Find who owns mineral rights to find who owns the land)

Related Videos are a work in progress.....

The key word is I. I will address you as paying your own way for your educational experience.

Paying for college will take financing. Think of it like buying an automobile or your first house. Have the mindset that you will have to borrow money.

Borrowing money for college is complicated because of all the options. Kiplinger’s Person Finance will back me up on this statement. It’s tough to understand. You will need to be a good student before you start college by getting the money you need.

You have to understand the difference between Want and Need. Want is something you would like to have if money is not a problem. Need is the basics. This blog will discuss need.

You need to go to an in-state public college. Going out of state is extremely expensive and going to a private college costs a great deal more than a public school. You may want to look at a community college as being your first step in your educational experience. This will take care of your need.

You will also need at least a part time job to cover costs that the lender will not allow for such as books and class supplies. A good example of supplies is taking a ceramics class. You will have to pay out of your pocket for the clay that you use.

First look for money that you do not have to pay back. These would be grants and scholarships. Financial Counselors at the state colleges can help you apply for these. This is free money. You can also check with organizations in your community such as the Lions or Kiwanis Club to see if they have scholarship money available and what you have to do to apply or earn it.

Other free money comes from the occupation you are interested in with a commitment on your part to work in that field after graduating for a certain amount of time. Committing to become a teacher and working as a teacher for a certain number of years qualifies you for free money. Also other careers like becoming a nurse can qualify you for free money. Joining the ROTC is another way to earn free money. With these types of free money you do not have to pay the money back but are obligated to work in the field you got the money from for a certain number of years.

Another way of paying for school is to have a job where one of its benefits is to pay for your tuition. This means you will be working and going to school at the same time. This is an excellent way to work your self through college. Many people work full time and also go to school full time.

There are also ideal situations where a company or government agency will pay you to go to school. I have a personal friend who is working for a branch of the government and has an assigned position. His first assignment was to college for two years full time having the wages and benefits as if he was working. The commitment on his part is that he is required to work for this agency for a certain number of years.

As you can see there are many ways to get Free Money to go to college. Be optimistic. You can also use the Internet to find special programs as well. Also, contact your state representative and senator for their advice. Governor Sebelius has set as new program in helping with financial aid.

After these resources have been exhausted you will then have to look at borrowing money from a lending institution either from the government or from a private lending institution, such as a bank, that you will have to pay the money back. Payments against these loans go against your credit rating. You always want to have a good credit rating.

The first step in getting a loan is to fill out the FAFSA form. You can find out all about FAFSA from the web site www.fafsa.ed.gov/ This is Going to tell you how much you can barrow. If you have a living parent there is information that is required of them even though they have made the choice to not help you pay for college. Financial Aid officers at the college you plan to go to can help you with this information. You must then decide if you are going to borrow money from the government or through a private lending institution. Your financial counselor should be able to help you make certain decisions for you but you are the one to make the final decision.

Anytime you borrow money remember that you are the customer. The lending institutions make its money based upon the interest charges and fees. Fees are negotiable. You always want there to be no fees for your loan. Remember you are the customer in this transaction. Do not be intimidated. Ask as many questions as you wish. Stand up for yourself.

The money that you barrow normally comes to you by semester. You can look at it as having many loans but they are still from the same lending institution.

The interest rate you are being charged is very important. The lower the rate the less money you will have to pay back. Watch the interest rate closely. I advise always going for a Fixed Rate and Locking in that rate so that it will not be variable. It is common for a variable rate loan to always go up.

However, there are times that interest rates go down. This is the time to do a loan consolidation so that all of your loans can have the same lower rate. Remember that you always want to pay the least amount in interest. This is going to save you money.

There are multiple ways in which you can make payments against your loan.

A work-study program will take the money you earned and will apply it against your loan.

You can also make what is called pre-payments. This means you can start paying your loan back while you are still going to school. It is common knowledge that you don’t have to start making payments until you are out of school. This is true however making pre-payments will lower your payments once you are out of school. You can also arrange to have automatic withdrawals from your checking account. Doing this will give you a discount on your interest rate.

The main thing to remember is to make your payment each month. This effects your credit rating. The way information on your loan is tracked is by a simple Yes or No for the question "was a payment made this month". You want to have all months say Yes. Having all say Yes will give you a better credit rating in the future.

After graduating from college and if your monthly payment is too high you have options that are available to you. You can request a deferment to give you more time to get a job so that you will have the money in the near future. You can also request a longer time period in which to pay back the loan. This will decrease your monthly payment but at the time the loan is paid off the total amount of money you paid will be more.

As you can see from all of this detail above there are many possibilities and options to benefit you. Society wants to see you get a bachelor’s degree at a minimum. Many things in the payment process are there to help you have a quality education when you do not initially have the money to pay for college.

It is my opinion that paying your own way makes you a better student, a better steward of your finances and is great for your self-esteem.

Any questions that you have today feel free to contact me by e-mail and I will get you the answer or point you to the web site where you can find the answer.

I am here to support you in any way that I can. Consider my in box to always be open to help you.

Randall (Randy) Conyers
Candidate for House of Representatives
District 73: McPherson, Lindsborg, Galva and Canton