Kansas school board elections, 2016

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Elections

No Kansas school districts held general elections in 2016. School board elections in Kansas are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in odd-numbered years, beginning in 2017. Prior to that, elections were held in April of odd-numbered years. The election cycle was changed by Senate Bill 171 in 2015.

The 12 states without school board elections among the largest districts by enrollment in 2016 were Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington.

A total of seven Kansas school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2015 for 28 seats. All of the elections were scheduled on April 7, 2015.

See also: Kansas school board elections, 2015

Issues

New education funding bill deemed equitable

See also: Kansas school board elections, 2016

Four local school districts brought an end to Kansas' temporary block grant funding system when the state supreme court ruled in their favor in February 2016. In 2015, a looming state budget deficit of $600 million led the state legislature to approve the block grants as a replacement for the state's per-pupil funding formula while a new formula was written. On February 5, 2015, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R) proposed that $44.5 million be cut from state education funding to make up for budgetary shortcomings. The court ruled against the replacement system, stating that the block grant system did not meet the state's constitutional requirement for education funding and caused undue stress on poor school districts.

The Kansas Supreme Court gave state lawmakers until June 30, 2016, to replace the block grant funding system or the state's schools would have been closed by court order. The state legislature convened in a two-day special session on June 26, 2016, and reworked the Brownback-supported education funding bill to increase state public school funding by $38 million during the 2016-2017 school year. After review by the Kansas Supreme Court, the new funding system was deemed to be equitable and Kansas elementary and secondary public schools were able to continue operations without interruption.

2015 cuts proposed by governor

See also: Kansas state budget and finances

Gov. Sam Brownback (R)

Of the total cuts Brownback suggested in 2015, $28 million would have come from elementary and secondary education funding, while another $16 million would have been taken from higher education funding. Critics of Brownback pointed to his campaign promises to support education in 2013. Kansas State Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley (D-19) called the move “just another deception [Brownback] put upon the voters of Kansas." Brownback's spokesperson, however, has stated that the governor “has consistently maintained that the education funding formula is broken and reform is needed to ensure more money goes to the classroom to benefit Kansas students."

Income taxes blamed and defended

Some blamed the income tax reductions signed into law by the governor for the significant shortfall that had loomed for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2015. Income tax cuts were championed by Brownback and passed by the legislature in 2012 and 2013. In 2015, the state had to reassess its spending and consider new forms of revenue. Possible revenue sources that were considered included raising taxes on cigarettes and alcohol or changing tax assessments for farmland, gasoline, and sales and passive income. In 2013, the state collected $2.96 billion in individual income taxes, which made up 38.80 percent of the state's tax collections.

Brownback defended the income tax cuts and pushed for consumption taxes to replace lost funds in April 2015. “I still want to get away from the income tax. Over time, I would like to see us move toward the consumption basket of taxes," he stated at the time. He also voiced support for a higher sales tax. The governor did not say exactly which consumption taxes might be used but noted his support for tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol.

At the same time, Brownback responded to criticisms regarding budget information he shared with David Kensinger, his former chief of staff and current lobbyist for Reynolds American tobacco company, prior to the legislative session. Brownback defended the move, saying, “What I try to do is get as much input from people as possible. I’ve tried to operate most of my public career in trying to solicit lots of input. I wish he wasn’t lobbying for that group. He’s free to do what he’s doing.”

Legislative response

Sen. Susan Wagle (R-30)

In response to Brownback's proposal, the Republican-dominated Kansas State Legislature revealed a plan to fund public schools with block grants for two years while they rewrote the school funding formula in March 2015. According to The Kansas City Star, the block grants provided an increase of more than $4.2 billion for the 2016-2017 school year, which represented a 9 percent increase from the 2013-2014 allocation. Additionally, the block grants returned the 2014-2015 district allocations to the amounts they were set at before Brownback announced his planned budget cuts. Whether or not these funds actually indicated an increase in classroom spending and how the legislature would pay for the increase funding remained unclear at the time of the bill's introduction. Democratic legislators criticized the bill, arguing that the majority of the additional funding would go toward pension funds and meeting the requirements of a 2014 Kansas Supreme Court ruling mandating more funding for schools. Sen. Hensley argued, "Their proposal does not do what they claim it’s going to do. It does not allocate $300 million in new money, nor does it put more money into the classroom.”

Sen. Tom Holland (D-3)

In a 64 to 57 vote on March 13, 2015, the House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 7, a plan to overhaul the state's 13-year-old school finance system. State law required at least 63 votes in favor of the measure for it to pass the House. The bill was immediately moved back to the Senate. This prevented any motions to reconsider the House vote. On March 16, 2015, the Senate approved the revised bill 25 to 14. Because the bill sent back from the House had been a Senate bill with amendments from the House, senators only had to vote yes or no to the House revisions and were not able to offer additional amendments. The bill was signed into law by Brownback on March 25, 2015.

The approved bill replaced the funding system with block grants for two years while the funding formula was overhauled. Republican leaders argued that the state's funding formula, which was based on a per-pupil formula and included weighting for bilingual and low-income students, was broken. Senate President Susan Wagle (R-30), who voted in favor of the old formula in 1992 and in favor of SB 7, said, "We are no longer talking about student outcomes and student achievement. We’re fighting for money."

Not all of her colleagues agreed that SB 7 was a solution to education funding woes. Some senators objected to how quickly the bill was passed and to the lack of discussion before the final Senate vote on the matter. Sen. Tom Holland (D-3), who voted against the measure, alleged it was encouraged by Charles and David Koch and praised the re-opening of a school funding lawsuit to allow the state's courts to weigh in on the matter.

Judicial response

Gannon v. State of Kansas ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court on February 11, 2016

Holland was referencing judicial action taken the same day the House passed SB 7, when a three-judge district court panel ordered the reopening of a school funding lawsuit that had been settled in 2014. The lawsuit was settled after the legislature equalized funding between districts through increased allocations, but the new court order reopened the equity portion of the case. It also added new state officials to the list of defendants in the case, including the state treasurer and revisor of statutes. The panel announced that it might issue temporary orders blocking the recent legislative action if necessary "to preserve the status quo and to assure the availability of relief, if any, that might be accorded should the Court deem relief warranted.”

On February 11, 2016, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled against the block grant system because it fell $54 million short of meeting the state's constitutionally mandated funding requirements. The court set a deadline of June 30, 2016, for a new funding law to be written. The ruling was made on lawsuit by the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Kansas City and Wichita school districts, which started back in 2010.

Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, which could have lost about $1.4 million as a result of Brownback's initial proposal, received a pointed note when the governor announced the cuts. In his statement on the matter, Brownback's office said, "Recent media coverage of the purchase of a $48,000 grand piano is symptomatic of the inherent flaws in the current formula. That money could and should have been used to hire another teacher to reduce class sizes and help improve academic achievement."

This statement referred to a piano purchased by the district to replace a piano used at Sumner Academy. District Superintendent Cynthia Lane responded to the governor's comment saying that the piano that the school replaced could no longer be repaired. The district also responded to the governor's suggestion that the funds should have been used to hire another teacher by noting that it used capital outlay funds to purchase the piano. Those funds, by law, cannot be spent on salaries.

Sex education disputes

See also: Education reform: The fight to shape public school curriculum (2016)

Lawrence Public Schools

See also: Lawrence Public Schools, Kansas

The Lawrence Public Schools Board of Education voted to adopt the more comprehensive national standards for sexuality education over those adopted by the state board of education in 2006. The new standards were implemented districtwide for the 2014-2015 school year. The national standards included more information about forms of birth control and sexual orientation.

Parents and guardians could choose to opt out of the curriculum for their children. In the partial implementation piloted in the 2013-2014 school year, only a few students' parents chose that option and only for a portion of the curriculum. According to Sarah Oatsvall, the district's assistant director of teaching and learning, students would receive a silent signal from the teacher during those parts of the curriculum so that they could leave the room without other students knowing.

Board member Vanessa Sanburn advocated for the switch to the national standards. At the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, she stated, "These standards support curriculum that presents sexual development as a normal, natural, healthy part of human development." Some criticism of the standard change was expressed. In response to a letter to the editor in the Lawrence Journal-World on February 7, 2015, board members Rick Ingram and Marcel Harmon voiced their support for the district's approach to sex education.

Ingram expressed his support of Sanburn's effort and the standard changes on his Facebook campaign page, saying:

“	Ignorance about sex doesn’t prevent STDs or unwanted pregnancies. I am proud of the fact that Lawrence schools provide sex education that is comprehensive and medically accurate. Special recognition goes to board member Vanessa Sanburn for keeping this issue at the forefront of our goal setting and planning.	”
—Rick Ingram's Facebook campaign page (2015)

Harmon seconded Ingram's statement on his own Facebook campaign page and said further:

“	Knowledge is power. I too am proud that Lawrence schools provide comprehensive and medically accurate sex education. Thanks to Vanessa Sanburn for championing this during the board's previous goal planning/setting processes. I will also say that the district does have opt out procedures in place for this.	”
—Marcel Harmon's Facebook campaign page (2015)

Former Lawrence school board candidate Lindsey Frye also commented on sex education in the district on her Facebook campaign page. She aimed her comments at two failed legislative bills from 2014, which would have required parental or guardian written consent for participation in sex education classes, required districts to provide a copy of the instructional materials and syllabus to those who request them, and prohibited the display or distribution of instructional materials about human sexuality to students who did not have the written consent. Frye stated:

“	Let's talk about sex. Let's talk about Senate Bill (SB) 376. Its companion, House Bill (HB) 2620. Let's talk about an educated informed young population who deserves the right to learn the the facts that can protect them as young, sexually or not sexually active adults. I am opposed to both these bills and hope you stand behind me in fighting for the rights to have an educated population of young people. I feel the Lawrence district has made the right moves in adopting the sexual education standards we have. I met this evening with the fabulous group Douglas County NOWand discussed these important bills along with hearing concerns of how are we going to change the culture that exists within our school district when it comes to reporting and kids having access to report issues that may arise with in the classroom and hallways.	”
—Lindsey Frye's Facebook campaign page (2015)

Shawnee Mission School District

See also: Shawnee Mission School District, Kansas

In early 2014, Mark Ellis questioned the school district's sex education curriculum after his daughter brought home a picture of a poster that was part of the curriculum at Hocker Grove Middle School. At the top of the poster, the question "How Do People Express Their Sexual Feelings?" was written, and beneath it several actions were listed, some of which Ellis found upsetting. In an interview, he stated, “[It] goes back to who approved this? You know this had to pass through enough hands that someone should have said, ‘Wait a minute, these are 13-year-old kids, we do not need to be this in-depth with this sexual education type of program.’”

District spokeswoman Leigh Anne Neal stated that the poster was part of the district's middle school health and science materials, but it was meant to be part of a lesson, saying, “Without the context of teacher-led discussion, I could see that there might be some cause for concern." District Superintendent Dr. Jim Hinson later suspended the use of the curriculum, which came from the "Making A Difference" instructional resource.

Ellis ended up running for a seat on the school board in the general election on April 7, 2015. He was defeated by incumbent Sara Goodburn.

Election date changes and partisan push

See also: Battles over school governance (2016)

Early legislative action in 2015 could have made all Kansas school board elections into partisan races held in November of even-numbered years. Those changes were not approved, but a smaller change was signed into law on June 8, 2015: House Bill 2104 changed all school board election dates to November of odd-numbered years.

HB 2104

HB 2104 was introduced to the Kansas House of Representatives on January 23, 2015, and sponsored by the House Elections Committee. The house approved the measure 69 to 54 on February 26, 2015. Following the withdrawal of a similar Senate bill, HB 2104 was approved by the Senate by a vote of 28 to 12.

The portion of the Conference Committee Report of the bill relating to the election date changes states:

“	The bill would move all elections for office holders of local governments currently held in the spring of odd-numbered years to the fall of odd-numbered years, with one exception (described below). In general, the elections would remain nonpartisan, although a city could choose to make its elections partisan. Sections to be added to the law, Sections 7, 8, and 13 through 16, would be cited as the Help Kansas Vote Act. Beginning in 2017, the election dates for the specified units of local government would mirror the election dates for the elections held in even-numbered years. That is, the primary election would be held on the first Tuesday in August, and the general election would be held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. The elections, to be administered by the county election officers, would be consolidated into one ballot, which would be prescribed by the Secretary of State through rules and regulations. Those entities currently with district method elective offices (i.e., cities and school districts) would retain that authority.	”
—HB 2104 Conference Committee Report (2015)

SB 171

Sen. Mitch Holmes (R-33) introduced SB 171 on February 9, 2015.

On February 9, 2015, Sen. Mitch Holmes (R-33) introduced Senate Bill 171 to the Ethics, Elections and Local Government Committee. The bill, as it was initially introduced, would have moved school board and other local elections to November in even-numbered years, in addition to changing school boards from their current nonpartisan status by requiring candidates to declare party affiliations.

Supporters claimed that moving the school board elections to a date when there were more elections would increase voter turnout for such races and reduce the costs of printing the number of current ballot variations. Others questioned whether or not a move would actually improve turnout, as it would place school board elections on an already lengthy ballot.

The bill was amended before being approved 21 to 18 by the Senate on February 26, 2015. The approved version would have moved school board and other local elections to the November general election date in odd-numbered years. It removed the language that would have made those elections partisan. During the debate of the revised version, Holmes expressed frustration with the resistance to moving local elections. He argued that such a move would increase voter turnout and bring greater transparency to local government, saying that such offices were "elected on a day that nobody notices."

Holmes also argued that the disproportionately white city council of Ferguson, Missouri, was caused by holding off-year elections and postulated that "minorities vote better in on-cycle elections than off-cycle elections." Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D-29), the first African American woman elected to the state Senate and one of the two African American members of the body, dismissed this argument, saying, “I don’t live in Ferguson. I don’t know anybody who lived there. ... We’re here in Kansas."

On March 4, 2015, the revised Senate bill was introduced in the Kansas House of Representatives. The House Elections Committee recommended the revised bill be approved with some amendments regarding date changes in the law on March 19, 2015. The measure did not pass and was withdrawn from the Senate calendar shortly thereafter.

Lawrence Public Schools

See also: What was at stake in Lawrence Public Schools?

On the same day that SB 171 was introduced, the Lawrence Board of Education passed a resolution opposing the measure. Six of the board's seven members voted in favor of the resolution; Randy Masten was not present for the meeting and, therefore, did not vote on the matter. Board President Shannon Kimball stated, "Our current election cycle falls very nicely in line with the school's fiscal and academic year." Member Vanessa Sanburn questioned the arguments in favor of the bill, saying, "I can't imagine that making the ballot longer is going to increase the turnout for our race."

The bill could have had other consequences beyond voter participation in its original form. Board members Rick Ingram and Bob Byers, who were state employees of Kansas University and the Kansas Department for Children and Families, respectively, expressed concern that they would not be able to run for office if the bill made the board a partisan office.

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Kansas

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Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
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NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The chart below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma), Kansas had the highest share of fourth and eighth grade students who scored at or above proficient in math.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Kansas	48%	40%	38%	36%
Missouri	39%	33%	35%	36%
Nebraska	45%	36%	37%	37%
Oklahoma	36%	25%	30%	29%
U.S. averages	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Kansas and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.

Kansas schools reported a graduation rate of 85.7 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, tying with Missouri.

In Kansas, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 21.8.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State	Graduation rate, 2013		Average ACT composite, 2013		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Kansas	85.7%	Second	21.8	75%	1752	6%
Missouri	85.7%	Second	21.6	74%	1773	4%
Nebraska	88.5%	First	21.5	84%	1734	4%
Oklahoma	84.8%	Second	20.8	75%	1689	5%
United States	81.4%		20.9	54%	1498	50%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express" ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores" The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013"

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Kansas was lower than the national average at 2.3 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Kansas
	Kansas	U.S.
Total population:	2,906,721	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	81,759	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	85.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	5.8%	12.6%
Asian:	2.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.8%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	3.3%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	11.2%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.2%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	31%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$52,205	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	15%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Kansas. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Kansas

Kansas voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

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See also

Kansas	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Kansas List of school districts in Kansas	School board elections, 2016 Kansas school board elections, 2015 Kansas school board elections, 2014	Education reform at the state and local levels (2016) School boards in session: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey