Primary Election Results…To be determined

Aug 8, 2018 by Mark Desetti

Well, some things about yesterday’s Kansas primary election have been decided but others have not and likely will not be for some time yet.

What we know for certain is that Senator Laura Kelly is the Democratic candidate for Kansas Governor. Kelly secured a majority of votes (52%) in a crowded five-candidate contest. It didn’t take long last night to know that Kelly was in; Svaty and Brewer were out.

Over on the Republican side, however, things are a little different. As of noon today, Secretary of State Kris Kobach – Trump’s anointed candidate – was ahead of incumbent Governor Jeff Colyer by only 191 votes with several thousand provisional ballots still to be counted. This race will take some time to be determined as all counties finish reviewing their ballots. But Kelly will face off against either Kobach or Colyer in November.

In two other contested state-wide Republican primaries, Rep. Scott Schwab secured the nomination for Secretary of State with 38% of the vote in a five-candidate election while Sen. Vicki Schmidt managed to beat Clark Shultz in the Republican primary for Insurance Commissioner, 52% to 48%.

A couple of congressional primaries were wild. In the Democratic primary for CD 3 (currently held by Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder), Sharice Davids managed a win with 37% of the vote. She was followed by labor leader Brent Welder with 34%. Teacher Tom Niermann was a distant third with 14% of the vote. Davids will take on Yoder in the general election. While Yoder did win the Republican primary, a full 32% of Republican voters cast their votes for other candidates.

There was a crowded field in the Republican primary for CD 2 (being vacated by the retiring Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins). With seven candidates in the race, Steve Watkins eked out a win with 26% of the vote. Watkins – an unknown a few months ago – managed to top state Senators Caryn Tyson, Dennis Pyle, and Steve Fitzgerald as well as state Representative Kevin Jones and former Speaker of the House in the Kansas Legislature, Doug Mays.

Watkins has been in the news for having met with the Democratic Party to consider a run for Congress as a Democrat before settling on being a conservative Republican. He has also been criticized for being a non-voter – he maintains that as a member of the armed services he needed to stay non-partisan and that included not voting! State Senator and retired Lt. Colonel Steve Fitzgerald had harsh words for Watkins on that issue!

Watkins will face former House Minority Leader Paul Davis who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Republican Congressman Roger Marshall secured 79% of the vote in his primary election while Republican Congressman Ron Estes topped his challenger, Ron Estes, 81% to 19%. Estes will now go into a rematch with Democrat James Thompson who won his primary with 65% of the vote.

Down ballot races were disappointing for moderate Republicans who woke up to find that they had lost Mary Martha Good (El Dorado), Anita Judd-Jenkins (Arkansas City), Patty Markley (Overland Park), Joy Koesten (Leawood), Don Schroeder (Hesston), and perhaps Steven Becker (Buhler) although Becker is behind by only one vote. Some moderates with primaries did prevail, however. Among them are Susan Concannon (Concordia), Tom Cox (Shawnee), Jim Karleskint (Tonganoxie), Jim Kelly (Independence), and Larry Hibbard (Toronto). Moderates also held two other seats. Susie Swanson’s (Clay Center) seat with go to Susie Carlson who defeated conservative Kathy Martin and Stephen Alford’s (Ulysses) seat will go to Marty Long who defeated conservative Jeff Locke.

And in great moderate Republican news, outspoken conservative incumbent John Whitmer was defeated in his primary by moderate Republican J.C. Moore.

The balance of power in the House is still to be determined pending the results of the November general election, but the moderate Republican caucus did suffer some serious losses in the primaries. What remains to be seen is how well Democrats do in both defending their incumbents and picking off some of the conservatives that came out ahead against moderate Republicans.

The challenges ahead of advocates for public education from now to November are many. We call upon all Kansans who value public schools for all of our children to get involved in the general election campaigns to protect and expand the Moderate/Democrat coalition.  We’ve made many gains since 2016, but last night proved that there is a growing push to return to and even double-down on the Brownback disaster.  For the sake of Kansas kids and for the future of our state, we must not let that happen!

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KNEA/KPAC makes late recommendation: Vicki Schmidt for Insurance Commissioner

Jul 23, 2018 by Mark Desetti

KNEA/KPAC last night interviewed Republican candidates for Insurance Commissioner and has voted to recommend Vicki Schmidt for election in the Republican primary.

Vicki is currently a Republican state senator from Topeka and has an outstanding legislative record in support of public schools, students, and public school teachers. She serves as Chair of the Public Health and Welfare Committee and as Vice-Chair of the Robert G. Bethell  Joint Committee on Home and Community-based Services and KanCare Oversight. In the past, she has also served on the Senate Education Committee.

As a practicing pharmacist, Vicki knows the challenges faced by under-insured and uninsured Kansans. We are confident that Vicki Schmidt will fight hard to find ways to bring quality, affordable health care coverage to every Kansan.

At a time when some legislators are looking to force all school employees into one high deductible state insurance plan – a plan that will drive up out of pocket expenses for school employees and reduce coverage – it is critical to have an advocate for educators and affordable health care in the office of Insurance Commissioner.

KNEA/KPAC is proud to recommend Vicki Schmidt for Insurance Commissioner.

Hate Campaign Mail? Vote NOW!

Need we remind everyone that early voting is now open around the state?

You don’t have to wait until election day to cast your ballot. Look over your candidate lists, head to an early voting site, and cast your ballot TODAY!

As an added bonus, candidates usually track advance voting records and remove the names of those who have cast their ballots from their mailing lists. That’s right – you have the opportunity to avoid some, if not all, of the nasty campaign mail just by voting early!

Click here for a link to the KNEA/KPAC recommended candidates. We hope you’ll review it and then head out to VOTE!

And if you’ve never voted early before, read this testimonial in the Shawnee Mission Post.

“It’s hard to describe the rush I felt participating in America’s electoral representative democracy. The births of my children are the closest I can come. And I’m not even sure that fully does it justice.”

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Dyslexia Task Force Holds First Meeting

Jul 13, 2018 by Mark Desetti

The Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia met yesterday in the Statehouse for what was essentially a meeting designed to learn about each other – what each person brings to the task force – and to review the charges put to the task force by the Legislature.

Dyslexia legislation has been an annual debate for many years. In the 2018 Legislative Session, a bill was brought forward that would have mandated every elementary child be screened specifically for dyslexia by the school district. Testimony in the education committees was often heated as parent advocacy groups and special education directors shared opposing stories of what is possible, legal, and achievable.

Rep. Brenda Dietrich (R-Topeka), a member of the House Education Committee and a retired public school superintendent, working with other legislators including Rep. Tom Cox (R-Shawnee) who brought the original bill, came up with the idea of forming a task force to bring recommendations back to the Legislature. KNEA strongly supported the task force formation. When the House passed the task force bill and sent it to the Senate, Senate Education Chair Molly Baumgardner (R-Louisburg) worked with her committee to ensure that teachers would be members of the task force. KNEA worked with Baumgardner and the members of her committee to make sure the teacher voice would be on the task force. As a result, four teachers are members of this task force: Jennifer Bettles, Sarah Brinkley, Jeri Powers, and Tally Fleming.

The four charges given to the task force are:

• Research and recommend evidence-based reading practices to address dyslexia or characteristics of dyslexia for use by schools;
• Research and recommend high quality pre-service and in-service professional development activities to address reading difficulties like
  dyslexia, including identification of dyslexia and effective reading interventions to be used in schools and within degree programs, such
  as education, reading, special education, speech-language pathology, and psychology;
• Study and examine current state and federal laws and rules and regulations, and the implementation of such laws and rules and
  regulations that affect students with dyslexia; and
• Identify valid and reliable screening and evaluation assessments and protocols that can be used and the appropriate personnel to
  administer such assessments in order to identify children with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia or the characteristics of dyslexia as part of an ongoing reading progress monitoring system, multi-tiered system of supports, and Child Find special education eligibility for students.

Members of the task force were divided into four subcommittees assigned to address the four charges.

Those assignments are as follows:

Subcommittee 1; Research and recommend evidence-based reading practices to address dyslexia or characteristics of dyslexia for use by schools;

• Rep. Brenda Dietrich, chairperson, Member House Education Committee
• Jennifer Bettles, Title Reading Specialist, Herington Elementary, Herington USD 487
• Jaime Callaghan, Director of Student Services, Auburn Washburn USD 437
• Christina Middleton, Parent of a child with a diagnosis of dyslexia, Founder of Decoding Dyslexia Johnson County
• Sonja Watkins, Principal, Hugoton USD 210

Subcommittee 2; Research and recommend high quality pre-service and in-service professional development activities to address reading difficulties like dyslexia, including identification of dyslexia and effective reading interventions to be used in schools and within degree programs, such as education, reading, special education, speech-language pathology, and psychology;

• Dr. David Hurford, chairperson, Professor, Pittsburg State University
• Alisa Matteoni, Parent of a child with a diagnosis of dyslexia, Board member International Dyslexia Association KS/MO Branch
• Jeanine Phillips, Parent of a child with a diagnosis of dyslexia, Founder of Fundamental Learning Center, Wichita
• Jeri Powers, Reading Specialist, Prairie Ridge Elementary School, Desoto USD 232
• Angie Schreiber, Center Director, Cradle to Career Literacy Center

Subcommittee 3; Study and examine current state and federal laws and rules and regulations, and the implementation of such laws and rules and regulations that affect students with dyslexia;

• Laura Jurgensen, chairperson, Attorney, KSDE
• Mike Burgess, Disability Rights Center of Kansas
• Lori McMillan, Professor, Washburn University School of Law

Subcommittee 4; Identify valid and reliable screening and evaluation assessments and protocols that can be used and the appropriate personnel to  administer such assessments in order to identify children with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia or the characteristics of dyslexia as part of an ongoing reading progress monitoring system, multi-tiered system of supports, and Child Find special education eligibility for students.

• Senator Bruce Givens, chairperson, Special Education Administrator
• Sarah Brinkley, K-6 low incidence special education teacher, Logan Elementary School, Seaman Schools USD 345
• Tally Fleming, Classroom teacher, LaCygne Elementary School, Prairie View USD 362
• Jennifer Knight, Parent of a child with a diagnosis of dyslexia, Families Together, Inc.

Subcommittees met to briefly discuss their charge and  possible action plans for moving forward. They will hold other meetings between now and when the full task force meets again on September 13.

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Kansas Supreme Court Rules in Gannon

Jun 25, 2018 by Mark Desetti

Key takeaways from today’s ruling:

• Funding remains inadequate, specifically relating to needed calculations for inflation in future years.
• The current funding system can continue to operate this year, and the Kansas Legislature has until April 2019 to provide a remedy to the Court (the Court retains jurisdiction).
• The Court recognizes that the Legislature has made progress.
• KNEA President, Mark Farr, points out that Kansans need to vote and that retaining a strong coalition of common-sense, public education supporters in the Legislature is vital this election year.

“Our schools will open this fall as expected, and the Supreme Court did its duty according to the Constitution.  Today is a step forward for Kansas kids and communities and ensures that we will continue the progress the Legislature made in 2018 to Constitutionally fund our public schools,” KNEA President, Mark Farr.

At 3:00 this afternoon the Kansas Supreme Court issued its ruling the Gannon school finance case. The ruling has been expected.

The question front and center for most Kansans is whether or not schools will open on time for the 2018-19 school year. The answer is “YES.”

The second most asked question is whether or not the ruling would require a special legislative session. The answer is “NO.”

But before one concludes from this that the court found the Legislature’s work meets both adequacy and equity in school funding as required by the constitution, one has to review the entire decision. And indeed, the Court has ruled that, while the latest changes to the school finance formula do not violate the equity standard, the Legislature has not met the adequacy requirements.

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Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Gannon School Finance Lawsuit

May 22, 2018 by Mark Desetti

The Kansas Supreme Court today heard arguments from Plaintiffs and the State in the school finance case that will determine whether or not this year’s school finance bill will meet constitutionality on both equity and adequacy.

Although it is not officially part of the evidence in the case, a central point in arguments today became the school finance cost study done this year by Dr. Lori Taylor of Texas A&M University. Conservatives in Legislative leadership had hoped Taylor’s study would demonstrate that our schools were already adequately funded. Instead, the study suggested that in order to meet the goals of the state’s education plan Kansas needed to invest an additional $1.7 to 2 billion.

Justice Eric Rosen went so far as to say “Here, you all are always battling your own expert…” in response to the state taking a position contrary to the Taylor study.

Questioning was sharp and, as always, it is difficult to say for certain where the Justices are going although most observers agree that they appear to be skeptical about the adequacy of the latest legislative attempt.  As we’ve indicated in previous posts, the Court’s skepticism was not completely unexpected.

The Court has promised a ruling by June 30 although it is hoped that the ruling will be sooner – especially if it might require the convening of a special legislative session.

To read more coverage of the hearing, visit one of these news reports:

The Lawrence Journal-World

The Kansas City Star

The Topeka Capital-Journal

The Wichita Eagle

Kansas NEA remains confident that whatever the Court rules, the Kansas Legislature will take their responsibility seriously and address the situation in a way that ensures our schools are open in August – that every new Kindergartener and Kindergarten parent will experience that first day together and that every rising high school senior will begin their final year on time and on track to graduate.

While the uncertainty of funding is difficult for everyone, KNEA has planned for contingencies to ease the concerns of our members throughout the state. Whatever the decision and whatever actions have to be taken, Kansas NEA will be there to work with policymakers and to protect the education of our children and the well-being of Kansas educators.

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