Bill would prevent teachers, relatives from running for school board

A bill slated for a hearing at the Capitol next week would prevent any teacher or anyone married or related to a teacher from running for a school board seat.

House Bill 2345, set to be heard by the House Education Committee on Thursday, would prevent anyone employed by a school district or the Department of Education from being elected to a school board. It would also prevent any school employee’s spouse, sibling, parent or roommate from running for a school board.

“It epitomizes the war on public education,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, a public school teacher, who was alerted to the bill by a constituent.

“And what I would suggest somebody do is that they offer up an amendment that says if you were ever taught by a teacher you can’t run for the school board,” he added sarcastically. “I mean, that’s how ridiculous this thing is.”

Rep. Ron Highland, R-Wamego, who chairs the House Education Committee, said he was unsure who introduced the bill. It was introduced anonymously in the Judiciary Committee before being transferred to his committee.

“That’s the second time today somebody’s asked me that question. I do not know,” Highland said Friday. “And that will be something that when we get there, we’ll try to find out.”

The House speaker’s office also did not know the author of the bill.

The bill is designed to prevent conflicts of interest, Highland said. He said he did not have an opinion on the matter, but welcomed input from proponents and opponents alike next week.

“I don’t have any opinions. But there have been instances brought to (my attention) … that there are some conflict of interests. You know, maybe a bill is warranted and maybe not,” Highland said. “We’ll have to just listen to all the evidence and make a determination.”

The bill also would prevent anyone with a “substantial interest in any business that works directly with or provides services to this state or the school district” from running for school board. Hensley said this phrasing casts an extremely wide net that will be problematic.

“If you’re the only hardware store in town or if you’re the only grocery store in town and you provide the local school district with produce, you couldn’t run for school board,” Hensley said.

Barbara Fuller, a retired teacher and longtime member of the Wichita school board, said she doesn’t see anything wrong with teachers or their family members holding positions on the board.

Fuller was retired when she ran the first time. “But I determined I was going to run when I was a teacher,” she said. “I used to sit at those board meetings and think, ‘You know, I could do this.’”

Prohibiting teachers and their family members from running for school board could eliminate good candidates, Fuller said.

“We need people to serve who have a strong belief in public education and know what’s going on in schools,” she said. “That’s a valuable perspective.”

Contributing: Suzanne Perez Tobias of The Eagle

This story was originally published February 27, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Bill would prevent teachers, relatives from running for school board."