Conservatives could gain control of state school boards in Kansas and Nebraska

TOPEKA, Kan. – Conservatives could win a majority on Kansas and Nebraska school boards in this year’s elections, which would make it easier for them to shape what is taught in schools.

The dispute centers on known efforts by conservative Republicans and groups to restrict public elementary and middle school teaching about racism, diversity, sexuality and gender. But also up for debate are skill-building lessons that conservatives dismiss as social engineering.

The attempt to teach soft skills – such as perseverance, tolerance of others and controlling emotions – came after research in recent years showed that companies see them as crucial for future employees. But some parents, state lawmakers and groups see what is sometimes called social and emotional learningor SEL, as promoting liberal values.

“We want to turn the tide away from social engineering and back toward education,” said Fred Postlewait, a retired computer systems manager and GOP candidate for a Kansas City board seat.

Conservative parents, right-wing groups and Republican officials across the United States who have sought to ban certain books and other materials are increasingly including SEL among the “woke” concepts or programs they want removed from classrooms. SEL joined DEI – for diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives – and CRT for critical race theory, which focuses on the idea that racism is systemic in American institutions.

Both states lean toward the Republican Party, helping conservative candidates prevail in the Nov. 5 election. In Nebraska, statehouse races are officially nonpartisan, but in Kansas they are partisan and party affiliation can be a deciding factor.

“I’m concerned that this isn’t on people’s radar,” said Judith Deedy, executive director of the pro-public education initiative Game On for Kansas Schools. “If the plan backfires, there will be a lot of unhappy people.”

The Kansas State Board of Education is perhaps best known for its twenty-year-old debates over whether evolution should be taught in schools. The state had five sets of scientific standards for its primary and secondary schools between 1999 and 2007, as most of the board changed hands many times.

Conservatives last took control in 2004 and changed the standards for teaching evolution in schools to reflect doubts about established scientific theory and leave room for arguments that the complexity of the universe points to intelligent design. In 2006, the moderate bloc regained control and quickly returned to science-based standards. The latest standards were adopted last year.

“This topic may come back,” said Melanie Haas, chairwoman of the Kansas state board, a Democrat facing Postlewait for a second term. “I don’t know if the board would be extremely successful in pushing this policy, but I think it could really disrupt education in Kansas.”

Besides Kansas and Nebraska, only Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, Texas and Utah elect all of their board members, but the current majorities in those states seem unlikely to lose power. In most states, governors appoint most or all of the state school board members, according to the state Board of Education.

The Nebraska State Board of Education is split 4-3 with far-right Republicans and has one vacancy. Half of the seats, including one vacant one, are on the ballot, and in the remaining three districts, members of most boards, all long-time educators, will not run again. Members serve four-year terms.

If the Conservatives flip two seats with a 5-3 majority, they will be able to continue the fight GOP-led politics such as banning certain books and materials in schools and ending social and emotional learning programs.

Board member Kirk Penner, a conservative Republican who condemns “woke culture,” described social and emotional learning in: social media post last year as a “TROJAN HORSE” for all the gender and CRT lessons introduced in schools.

“After the ’24 elections, we should have a majority to remove him,” he predicted.

Kansas State board members also serve four-year terms, and this year, five of the board’s 10 seats are on the ballot. The coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans has six members, but three of them are not running for re-election.

The push for a greater focus on social and emotional learning in Kansas began in 2015, and state Education Commissioner Randy Watson said SEL addresses what business and community leaders expect from public schools. In previous surveysWatson said they told the state board that students were doing “pretty well” academically but needed to develop soft skills.

One controversy concerns questionnaires for parents enrolling their children in preschool or preschool programs. One for parents of 5-year-olds asks 39 questions, including whether their children can go to the bathroom on their own, whether they play with other children, whether they throw long tantrums and: “Does your child seem happy?”

The goal, officials told the board at its monthly meeting in October, is to help teachers meet children’s individual needs and better manage their classrooms.

But Republican state board member Danny Zeck, a retired car salesman from northeast Kansas who was elected to the state board in 2022, expressed concern that schools are telling parents how to treat their children and “want all kids to respond in same way for everything. “

“That’s not what our great country is based on — it’s based on the fact that you and I are different,” Zeck, who was also a member of the local school board, said during a break in the October meeting. “I worry about the indoctrination of children. “

Challenging Haas in her place, Postlewait argues that “social engineering” initiatives take up too much classroom time. As evidence, he points to Kansas students’ performance on annual state-administered standardized reading and math tests.

The state Department of Education reported earlier this month that two-thirds of Kansas students who took state exams in the spring had the basic knowledge and skills needed to begin life after high school. There was a slight improvement in the proportion of pupils achieving ‘effective’ or ‘excellent’ results.

However, almost a third of students demonstrated only “limited” knowledge and skills. That seems far too high to Postlewait and other conservatives, especially when the numbers are worse across districts and schools.

“It’s important to me that the State Board of Education ensures there is discipline in the classroom,” said state Senate Education Committee Chair Molly Baumgardner, another Republican from the Kansas City area.

Baumgardner said that while the Legislature does address education issues, it can’t act as quickly as a school board, so she sees lawmakers taking action as a “last resort.”

“The workforce needs in our state are: People need to be able to read. They must also have strong math skills,” she added.

Haas, the current board chair, said social and emotional learning programs help ensure students are prepared both academically and socially so they can thrive in the workplace after graduation.

Considering the choices, she said, “This potentially threatens the way we deal with social-emotional learning.”

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Associated Press writer Margery A. Beck contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.