Contact your senator and urge them to vote NO on SB 427 which the Senate moved favorably for passage on a voice vote today (Monday, March 25th). It could be heard on final action tonight or tomorrow. This is one of several bills this session requested by the Kansas Policy Institute (a Koch-funded organization that has worked against us and other public education supporters on multiple bad education and tax bills).
Tell your senator you oppose this bill because
*It seeks to micromanage local school boards, their meetings and practices related to school board member data management.
*It denies the public the right to know the agenda of school board members
*It ignores the will of voters and seeks to continue the chaos created by extremist board members even when they don’t have the majority on their boards
*It puts districts at risk for cyberattacks.
For more information, keep reading.
As a primary matter, these issues should be left to local control, and school boards shouldn’t be treated differently from other municipal and county elected entities. To put it bluntly, school boards are being singled out in this bill because the KPI-supported Moms for Liberty-type candidates largely lost their elections and do not have control over boards where voters chose not to put them in office. This bill attempts to undo the will of the voters and give extremist members extraordinary ability to dictate board actions. It also seeks to get boards to start funding the KPI-sponsored anti-KASB entity. Kansas voters rejected the chaos caused by extremist school board members, but this bill attempts to allow them to continue to wreak havoc.
The Supplemental Note explains SB 427 would amend law governing the powers and duties of local school boards to require certain local school board member information be published and accessible on the websites of the school district and KSDE, allow any member of a local school board to add board discussion items to “new business” on a board meeting agenda and engage in discussion with members of the public at such meetings, require each local school board meeting to include time for a public comment period, authorize payment of annual dues to not-for-profit organizations providing guidance or other services to member local school boards, and provide that local school board members may access school district property at any time when this property is open to school district employees.
The main proponents of the bill are extremist current and former school board members and the KPI-sponsored entity that seeks to support extremist school board members. Kansans showed their desire to return to normal school board operations, and this bill improperly seeks to make it easier for extremists to continue to negatively impact their local boards and their districts.
We strongly oppose SB 427 and hope you will contact your senator and let them know you do, too.
Originally published on Facebook on March 25, 2024.