Kansas GOP targets low-performing schools in fight for in-person learning. Dems push back

Tensions between Republican lawmakers and the Kansas City, Kansas School District flared on the House floor Monday over a bill mandating an in-person learning option by March 26.

Republican proponents say the bill, which passed the Kansas Senate earlier this month, was in the best interest of students’ academic progress and mental health after months of remote instruction during the pandemic It would also restrict the state’s authority to order future shutdowns in emergencies like the one Gov. Laura Kelly initiated with her March 2020 stay-at-home order.

The vast majority of the state’s school districts are already offering an in-person option. GOP lawmakers had harsh words for one that has not — the Kansas City, Kansas.

““It’s no wonder that the private schools in these same districts are at least three times as successful as they are in the public schools,” said Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican.

Tarwater asserted that Catholic schools care more about their students, as children in private schools tend to have higher standardized test scores than those in public schools.

This comes as lawmakers consider another bill that would provide more scholarships at private schools for low-income students through tax-credits.

The Washington Post reported researchers have found success rates between private and public schools are not based on the school itself, but the socioeconomic status of the families in those schools. Students from higher income families were more likely to have more educational resources from a young age, and that presumably would carry on throughout childhood.

Rep. Valdenia Winn, a Kansas City Democrat who serves on the KCK School Board, said the schools cannot be compared because the enrollment is vastly different. She said Tarwater had “the facts” but not “the wisdom” to understand the context within the school district and the numbers he was referencing.

While this bill is meant to address success rates among students, that issue spans well past the pandemic, she said. Students in certain districts falling behind is not a new issue.

“They were low performing before the pandemic. Where were you then?” Winn said.

During the debate, Winn called out lawmakers who were laughing, and asked for their attention, patience and “intellectual insight” in an issue affecting students’ lives.

“It’s not funny. But you think it’s funny? You think [Senate Bill] 235 works? You got it,” she said. “I know you’re ready for me to sit down, but I’m not ready yet.”

Edwin Birch, a spokesperson for KCK Public Schools, said the district’s top priority has been the health and safety of its students. As positivity rates in Wyandotte County have fluctuated, the district has done It best to respond in a way that protected families, and the decision to remain in remote learning has reflected health guidance and feedback from the community.

He said staff members are excited and ready to be back in-person In the coming weeks, whether that be March 26 as the legislature is proposing or the district’s planned reopening date, April 5.

The House voted the bill favorable for passage following closing comments from Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Bonner Springs, who attended Kansas City Kansas Public Schools. He referenced NAACP leader and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, comparing the fight to reopen schools with 1960’s “separate but equal” doctrine allowing schools to be segregated.

“Separate but not equal. That’s what we have here today,” Johnson said. “I love those kids in Wyandotte County and I want them to have equal.”

But Winn said this bill won’t address the success gap between students based on their socioeconomic status. She described the legislature as hostile when it comes to education, and said lawmakers were seeing the issue of educational access in a “myopic” lens without looking at broader issues.

“Let’s work on the things that we can work on. Let’s work on systemic racism that’s in education,” Winn said. “Some of you didn’t even know what systemic meant. That’s sad.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Goddard Public Schools in Sedgwick County do not offer an option for in-person instruction. Elementary and middle school students attend in person and high schoolers are on a hybrid format.

This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Kansas GOP targets low-performing schools in fight for in-person learning. Dems push back."