“When the Kansas Senate and House Education Committees convene for the first time of the new session next month, they will do so without a Republican representative from northeast Johnson County — a fact that has local public education advocates worried.
“Senate President Susan Wagle and House Speaker Ray Merrick this week unveiled committee assignments for the 2015 session, and both Sen. Kay Wolf and Rep. Melissa Rooker were excluded from the Education Committees on which they had served the past two years…
“Rooker made clear that serving on the Education Committee was her first choice’ and that she had communicated as much to the House leadership. She categorized the Education committee assignments — which include a number of ideologically conservative members — as ‘a very clear message about the direction House leadership wants to take public education.’
“’The clear message here is that the big picture we have is a reform agenda that is intended to take us closer to the privatization of public schools,’ Rooker said. ‘This will all be done in the name of efficiency, and ‘living within our means,’ but the fact is we’ve created this crisis ourselves. All of Johnson County should be concerned about what is about to unfold.’
“Game On for Kansas Schools head and Shawnee Mission School District parent Judith Deedy said Tuesday that the absence of a representative from northeast Johnson County was unsettling.
“’For a long time, we’ve had a moderate voice on that committee, and that seems to be gone,” she said.
“Deedy said that Rooker’s deep knowledge of the issues should have been seen as an asset to the House Education Committee. Instead, it seemed to work against her.
“’They have taken the strongest advocate for Johnson County schools and Kansas school children off the education committee,’ Deedy said. ‘Her years of work with the Kansas PTA provided her with a depth of knowledge that most legislators don’t have. That knowledge should be valued on the House Education Committee, and the fact that it isn’t has public education advocates quite concerned.’”