Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Article 6 of the state constitution states:
"The legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interest of the state. Local public schools under the general supervision of the state board of education shall be maintained, developed and operated by locally elected boards."
What this means to me as a former school board member is that the legislature makes sure the schools are funded and that the money goes where it should but the local boards make the decisions on how they run their school. The most important function I can perform is that the local school boards maintain the control of their districts and do not lose this important responsibility granted by the legislature.
I believe as your representative I can help explore some options for the teacher shortage in a number of different ways. I would do this by visiting with superintendents and teacher groups to get their ideas, which I would take to the legislature. I would also like to address some of the issues of mandates without funding with local school boards and see if there is any way the legislature can help in these areas.
We are very fortunate to have a highly respected community college in our county. The quality of education that they provide our graduating seniors helps prepare them in their journey on to a four-year university or the needed skills to enter the work force immediately.
Half of the state's population is located in 5 of the 105 counties. More than half of the counties in Kansas have fewer residents than they did in 1900. This is a huge concern for smaller school districts. We have the best education system in place and we need to maintain that quality to attract new businesses and people to our state. How can we address this and help these counties grow?

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