Kansas senator accuses school districts of ‘coordinated effort’ to campaign against him

A Kansas senator from southern Kansas says there is a coordinated effort by school superintendents around the state to oust incumbent lawmakers.

Sen. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, sent an e-mail to supporters last week, warning that “those who are spenders of tax dollars are very organized in their efforts to take Kansas government back” this election year and that yard signs for his opponents are “in the yards of those who are paid by our tax dollars.”

“We certainly need the services of public employees, but do you want them to be in charge of appropriating their own paychecks?” Knox said in the e-mail, which was obtained by The Eagle.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Knox said those comments were aimed at school district superintendents, who he thinks are leading a coordinated effort to oust him and other conservative Republican incumbents.

“It’s quite clear – and it’s across the state – the school districts are working strongly,” Knox said. “The superintendents are actively campaigning against me and that’s fine, but people need to know that and they need to pay attention.”

“And I’ve been to many towns and the signs of my opponents are all at (the homes of) teachers, or school district employees, or you know, people connected with the school. And that’s how they’re getting it out,” he said. “It’s a coordinated effort.”

Knox represents Senate District 14, which covers much of Butler County as well as Coffey, Cowley, Chataqua, Greenwood, Wilson and Woodson counties.

He faces a primary challenge from Bruce Givens, who has worked as an educator since 1978 and is assistant director of the Butler County Special Education Cooperative, which provides special education services for nine Butler County school districts.

“There may be educators actively campaigning (against Knox),” Givens said. “That’s probably likely. I don’t know about it. I’m not part of that, nor do they tell me. I suppose he should be concerned, because he has not supported public education at all.”

Knox said he has heard from teachers who are being intimidated into supporting his opponents. His Senate district covers 26 school districts; he would not specify in which districts he thought this was taking place.

“The schools are out working hard because they want more money, quite plainly,” Knox said. “And though their funding is the highest it’s ever been…People need to know what’s motivating this.”

Cory Gibson, the president of the Kansas School Superintendents Association, noted said the organization, which represents the state’s superintendents, doesn’t even make endorsements in legislative races.

“Certainly to my knowledge there is no superintendent in Kansas who is personally going out and either telling their staff or threatening their staff (to support a specific candidate),” Gibson said.

Nothing bars a superintendent or any other public employee from posting a yard sign on their own property or walking neighborhoods in support of a candidate in their free time. But Gibson said that many superintendents avoid doing that since they’ll have to work with whoever wins the race.

“Most of us are even more guarded than we probably have to be, not even endorsing on our own doorsteps or walking in parades, which we have a right to do on our time,” he said.

Knox isn’t alone in raising concern about the political activities of school officials. Last month, the Kansas Republican Party sent out a newsletter that included a warning about political e-mails from school officials.

G.A. Buie, the executive director of the United School Administrators of Kansas, said it was “disappointing that candidates are so focused on what superintendents are doing in their personal lives.”

“They are everyday citizens just like you and I are,” he said. “If they want to advertise (at home), they should have the right to do that.”

The winner of the Republican primary will square off against Carl Shay Jr. or Mark Pringle, whoever wins the Democratic primary.

Shay is vice president of the Fredonia school board. He called Knox’s e-mail hypocritical.

“He obviously doesn’t want public employees to have a voice in their government. And oddly enough he also gets paid by the people and he wants his voice heard, so I think that’s kind of a double standard on his part,” Shay said.

Although the superintendents association does not make endorsements, other education-related groups have waded into the race.

Givens and Shay have both received endorsements ahead of the primary from the Kansas National Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, and Game On for Kansas Schools, a parents group that advocates for increased education funding. Knox has been endorsed by the Kansas Chamber PAC.

“People who love public education obviously want people who are going to represent public education. … That’s how it’s supposed to work. I’m sorry that bothers him,” Shay said. “Teachers have been disrespected in Topeka long enough.”

Pringle, who owns a farm near Yates Center, said education will be a major motivator for plenty of voters who don’t work for school districts.

“The folks that are getting out there and rising up against this stuff, they have kids, they have grandkids, they have kids in their community that are being affected,” Pringle said. “They have every reason in the world to be active in this campaign whether they’re putting up signs or talking to their neighbors.”

This story was originally published July 5, 2016 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Kansas senator accuses school districts of ‘coordinated effort’ to campaign against him."