School & District Management

Moderates Appear Headed for Majority Following Kansas State Board Primary

By Jessica L. Tonn — August 02, 2006 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Two moderates and two conservatives won in the four Republican primary elections for the Kansas state board of education yesterday, ousting one incumbent and signaling a likely shift of control in the board that has been led by conservative Republicans for the past two years.

In other Kansas primary results, Republican Jim Barnett beat out six other candidates to face incumbent Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, who did not have a primary election, this fall. Primaries were also held for the office of secretary of state, two U.S. House seats, and 26 state House seats.

The control of the education board has changed twice over the past several election cycles between members deemed conservative and those seen as moderates, with the teaching of evolution being the major subject of disagreement. The result has been three rewrites of the state science standards in that time.

Most recently, conservatives in the six-person majority on the 10-member board approved science standards that recommend that students learn about “scientific criticisms” of the theory of evolution and what the document terms “the lack of adequate natural explanations” for certain aspects of evolutionary theory. Moderates oppose such language in the science standards and other positions such as the board’s recent adoption of an “opt in” policy recommendation on sex education in the state’s health education standards.

Moderates and conservatives have also been divided over the board’s promotion of charter schools and vouchers, as well as the hiring last year of state Commissioner of Education Bob Corkins.

With two GOP moderates winning nominations for seats currently held by conservative Republicans, the general elections in November will ensure that either moderate Republicans or Democrats will hold six of the 10 board seats for at least the next two years. The change will likely mean that the controversial policies adopted by the conservative-led board will be re-examined, if not reversed, observers say.

According to unofficial results from the state, moderates Jana K. Shaver and Sally Cauble beat their conservative opponents, M. Brad Patzer and incumbent Connie Morris, respectively, in the Aug. 1 Republican primaries.

Conservative GOP incumbents Kenneth Willard and John W. Bacon, who each faced two opponents in their primaries, were renominated.

Democrat Janet Waugh, an incumbent, also won her primary race against Jesse L. Hall, who, though a Democrat, agreed with the conservatives on the hot-button issues of evolution, school choice, and sex education.

Early last month, while on the campaign trail, Mr. Willard said he feared that a win by the moderates would roll back some of the policies implemented by the conservative-majority board over the past two years.

“We’ve been trying to initiate some reforms and change of direction for public education, and keep it from being so totally dependent on more funds,” he said. “I would just hate to see it go back to the status quo.”

Ms. Shaver, however, sees the future differently. “I can’t see that returning the focus of the state board of education to reasonable decisionmaking, to support for public schools, and to a respect for local control would be a return to the status quo,” she wrote in an e-mail last month.

The likely question on the minds of many observers, both in Kansas and elsewhere, after the closely watched Aug. 1 primaries is what the board will do about evolution.

During the campaign, Mr. Patzer, the conservative running against Ms. Shaver, expressed his frustration with the board’s shifting policies on the issue, asking, “Are we going to change the science standards again?”

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Well-Being Webinar
Attend to the Whole Child: Non-Academic Factors within MTSS
Learn strategies for proactively identifying and addressing non-academic barriers to student success within an MTSS framework.
Content provided by Renaissance
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum How to Teach Digital & Media Literacy in the Age of AI
Join this free event to dig into crucial questions about how to help students build a foundation of digital literacy.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management How Principals Can Resolve Heated Conflicts With Parents and Teachers
Three tips for school leaders to manage complicated and emotional disagreements.
4 min read
Illustration of a large hand holding a puzzle piece that shows a handshake and that connects two other pieces -- one with a man and the other with a woman.
iStock/Getty
School & District Management Where Is K-12 Enrollment Headed? Population Trends, by the Numbers
America's public schools will have fewer students in the coming years, but population changes vary widely by state.
1 min read
Illustration of people icon.
E+
School & District Management How to Have a Hard Conversations With Your Teachers: 3 Tips for Principals
Here are three small steps that can ease the pain of a difficult conversation between a principal and teacher.
3 min read
Photo of two women having discussion.
E+
School & District Management How Have School Leaders Responded to the Trump Shooting?
When a tragic national incident happens in the middle of the summer, do school officials feel compelled to respond?
4 min read
A crowd waits for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump to speak at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
A crowd waits for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump to speak at the campaign event in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024, before a shooting took place.
Gene J. Puskar/AP