We hoped common sense had prevailed when a bill that would prohibit people from serving on a school board if they had a relative who works for any school district in the state failed to move out of committee. Now the legislature is surveying current school board members.

“Lynn Rogers, a member of the Wichita school board, said that unless the bill is changed significantly, ‘there’s hardly a businessman on main street’ who wouldn’t be disqualified by this restriction…

“Tom Krebs, spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said his organization was encouraging school board members to fill out the survey. He said that lawmakers’ concerns about potential conflicts of interest if school board members are married or related to educators are overblown and that the association advises members to withdraw themselves from decisions if a conflict of interest arises.

“’What if you asked the Legislature to impose a similar sort of (restriction) that you can’t serve as a legislator if any of your family – and we’re talking husband, wives, children, in-laws – had any business to do with the state?’ Krebs said.”

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article36874224.html