Kansas school board elections, 2017
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Elections
A total of seven Kansas school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2017 for 24 seats. General elections were scheduled on November 7, 2017.
Here are several quick facts about Kansas' school board elections in 2017:
- The largest Kansas school district by enrollment with an election in 2017 was Wichita Public Schools with 50,947 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.
- The smallest Kansas school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2017 was Lawrence Public Schools with 11,839 K-12 students in the 2014-2015 school year.
The districts listed below served 178,129 K-12 students during the 2014-2015 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.[1] Click on the district names for more information on each one and its school board elections.
| 2017 Kansas School Board Elections | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Primary Election | General Election | Runoff Election | Regular term length | Seats up for election | Total board seats | 2014-15 enrollment |
| Kansas City Kansas Public Schools | N/A | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 5 | 7 | 22,129 |
| Lawrence Public Schools | N/A | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11,839 |
| Olathe Public Schools Unified School District 233 | N/A | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 3 | 7 | 29,296 |
| Shawnee Mission School District | 8/1/2017 | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 3 | 7 | 27,470 |
| Blue Valley Unified School District 229 | N/A | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 3 | 7 | 22,398 |
| Topeka Public Schools | N/A | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14,050 |
| Wichita Public Schools | N/A | 11/7/2017 | N/A | 4 | 4 | 7 | 50,947 |
November 7 election results
Largest school districts elect newcomers to nearly 60% of school board seats; incumbent success rate falls by nearly 30 percentage points
Newcomers won 58.33 percent of the school board seats on the ballot in Kansas’ seven largest school districts on November 7, 2017. When those same seven school districts last held elections in 2015, newcomers won 25 percent of the seats. Though newcomers defeated more incumbents than they did in 2015, their success rate in 2017 was also influenced by a higher number of open seats on the ballot. A total of 62.5 percent of the incumbents whose seats were up for re-election in 2017 ran to retain their seats. In 2015, 78.57 percent ran to retain their seats. Incumbents saw a 66.67 percent success rate in 2017, which was a decrease from the 95.45 percent success rate they experienced in 2015.
Issues
State education funding
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled on October 2, 2017, that the Kansas State Legislature had not met its constitutional obligation to adequately and equitably fund public schools, echoing a March 2017 ruling from the same court that had required the state legislature to send more money to public schools. State lawmakers responded to that March 2017 ruling by a passing a bill that increased funding for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years by $293 million. The October 2017 ruling said that increase was not enough and directed lawmakers to craft a new education funding bill by June 30, 2018.[2][3][4]
The October 2017 ruling found that the $293 million increase failed to meet the state constitution's requirement for public education. Article 6 states, “The legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.” In earlier court decisions Article 6 was interpreted to require the state to provide funding to public schools that is adequate and equitable. The adequacy requirement calls for the state's education funding system to be "reasonably calculated to have all Kansas public education students meet or exceed the standards." Under the equity requirement, “School districts must have reasonably equal access to substantially similar educational opportunity through similar tax effort.”[5]
The October 2017 ruling was the latest in a 20-year state battle over school finance, and it was the fifth time in three years that the Kansas Supreme Court determined the state legislature had underfunded public education. The case, Gannon v. Kansas, was filed by the Wichita, Hutchinson, Dodge City, and Kansas City school districts in November 2010.[2][6]
Republican leadership in the state legislature issued a statement that condemned the court's ruling and called it an unrealistic demand. “This ruling shows clear disrespect for the legislative process and puts the rest of state government and programs in jeopardy,” the statement said.[2]
Sen. Julia Lynn (R-9) said she believed there would “never, ever be enough money” to meet the court's satisfaction. “And unless somebody else has a better idea, we’re going to be doing this for the rest of our legislative lives, the Legislature will be fighting this,” said Lynn.[2]
When the legislature was directed to pass a new education funding plan in March 2017, the court did not say how much education funding had to increase.[7] Before the final bill was passed, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley (D-19) said he believed drafts from both the Senate and House were inadequate.[8] He proposed an increase of $420 million for two years, but it was rejected in a 23-16 vote.[9]
When the bill was passed on June 6, 2017, the legislative session had been open for 108 days of what was scheduled to be a 100-day session. It was one of the longest sessions in the state's history. State lawmakers passed a bill to increase income taxes and end a tax exemption for farms and businesses on June 7, 2017, as part of a plan to fund the education increase and fill an $889 million budget shortfall. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) vetoed the tax bill, but both chambers of the legislature voted to override the veto with a two-thirds majority.[4]
The justices allowed the education funding bill to take effect while they determined if it met constitutional requirements, which allowed school districts to create their budgets for the 2017-2018 school year.[10] With a deadline of April 30, 2018, to craft a new education funding bill to meet the October 2017 ruling's requirements, the legislature did not have to go into special session in 2017. The 2018 session of the legislature began in January 2018.[2]
On April 7, 2018, legislators passed a school funding bill (SB 423) intended to increase K-12 funding by more than $500 million over five years. Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) signed the legislation on April 17, 2018. The Kansas State Department of Education identified that the legislation contained an $80 million error in the first year, decreasing the amount of funding from $150 million to $72 million. On April 30, 2018, lawmakers approved a measure correcting the error. Gov. Colyer signed the legislation on May 4, 2018.[11]
On June 25, 2018, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state's legislative adjustments to education funding, SB 423 and SB 61, were equitable but inadequate. The court concluded that Kansas had not met the adequacy requirement in Article 6 of the state constitution. The court advised the state to undertake further adjustments to inflation and allowed the legislation (SB 19, SB 423, and SB 61) to temporarily remain in effect, thus providing funding for Kansas schools for the 2018-2019 school year. The court extended the deadline for the state to fulfill its constitutional duties to June 30, 2019.[12]
In April 2019, the Kansas legislature passed a law that increased the state's education budget by $900 million each year. On June 14, 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that with the passage of the April 2019 law, the state was adequately funding education. When issuing the ruling, the court chose to keep the lawsuit open so it could monitor education funding in future years' budgets.[13][14]
Academic performance
- See also: Public education in Kansas
The sections below do not contain the most recently published data on this subject. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.
| Education terms |
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| 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.[15]
| 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
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.[15][16][17]
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.[18]
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.[19]
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.
More Kansas coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Kansas
- United States congressional delegations from Kansas
- Public policy in Kansas
- Endorsers in Kansas
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- More...
See also
| Kansas | School Boards | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
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Footnotes
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 22, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Wichita Eagle, "School funding still inadequate and unfair, Supreme Court rules," October 2, 2017
- ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Kansas Lawmakers Pass School Aid Increase, Income Tax Hike," June 6, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 U.S. News & World Report, "Kansas Lawmakers Override Governor Veto," June 7, 2017
- ↑ Justia US Law, "Gannon v. State," accessed October 16, 2017
- ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Interactive timeline: Kansas school-funding dispute," February 11, 2016
- ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Some Lawmakers Say Kansas Education Funding May Be Too Small," May 31, 2017
- ↑ The Kansas City Star, "Kansas Senate agrees to school finance formula, but warnings from Democrats continue," May 31, 2017
- ↑ AP News,"Kansas lawmakers sweeten education plan, advance tax hike," May 13, 2017
- ↑ The Sentinel, "Kansas Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on School Finance," June 21, 2017
- ↑ The Kansas City Star, "'A very strong bill': Gov. Colyer signs off on school finance plan," April 17, 2018
- ↑ Kansas Judicial Branch, "Gannon v. Kansas," accessed July 14, 2021
- ↑ AP News, "Kansas high court says education funding is adequate," June 14, 2019
- ↑ Education Dive, "States' failure to track education funds complicates spending model overhauls," July 17, 2019
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ ACT, "2012 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT Scores by State 2013," October 10, 2013
- ↑ StudyPoints, "What's a good SAT score or ACT score?" accessed June 7, 2015
- ↑ United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Dropout and Graduation Rate Data File, School Year 2010-11, Provision Version 1a and School Year 2011-12, Preliminary Version 1a," accessed May 13, 2014
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