A big factor in some Wichita legislative races? Education

School funding will be on the agenda for Kansas lawmakers again next year. And what they do may depend on how you vote.

Lawmakers must respond to a Kansas Supreme Court decision that faults the state’s school funding formula for not accounting for inflation. Altering the formula will likely require additional funding for schools.

In the governor’s race, Democrat Laura Kelly supports the inflation adjustment, while Republican Kris Kobach wants to stand up to the Supreme Court. Regardless of who becomes governor, he or she will need lawmakers to turn their vision into reality.

Every seat in the Kansas House is up for grabs Tuesday, including roughly 20 Wichita-area seats.

The Eagle spoke to several candidates in competitive races who said education is on the minds of voters.

This spring, the Legislature approved a more than $500 million annual increase in school funding that will ramp up over the next five years. The new spending comes in response to a Kansas Supreme Court opinion that found schools underfunded.

The Supreme Court largely signed off on the new funding levels, but wants an adjustment for inflation so that funding will increase automatically as the cost of everything rises.

“There’s still a lot of concern about getting school funding under control,” said Rep. Leo Delperdang, R-Wichita.

Delperdang, who represents District 94, voted in favor of the funding increase, but said he is disgusted that more of the money isn’t going into the classroom. His views echo that of Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the Republican candidate for governor, who has called for more of the funding to go toward classroom instruction.

Just 11 percent of Kansans favor cutting K-12 education spending, according to a statewide survey conducted this fall by Fort Hays State University’s Docking Institute of Public Affairs. Another 15 percent said they would cut spending in higher education.

Delperdang’s opponent, Democrat Dan Stiffler, said voters have expressed a sense that people don’t want to enter teaching and that Kansas is struggling to find teachers.

“A large number of people will comment about how important education is to them,” Stiffler said.

Democrat Rebecca Jenek said that voters want to know that their schools will be here for the future. Jenek is running in District 97.

They want assurance that funding is spent well and that there is oversight of it, she said.

“Our voters want to make sure our money is going to the classroom, that our teachers and students are getting it,” Jenek said.

Calls to Jenek’s opponent, Nick Hoheisel, were not returned. Hoheisel’s campaign website stresses the need for public education to prepare students for the workforce.

“We can develop incentives for schools to reimagine the classroom by seeking out businesses and nonprofits to work with public schools to expand internships, shadow programs, required community service, and to invest in vocational programs for the workforce of tomorrow,” his website says.

Education is not a major factor in every race, however.

“Surprisingly, they are not asking about education as much as I would have expected,” said Rep. Susan Humphries, R-Wichita, who represents District 99.

Humphries said she knocks on the doors of Republican and unaffiliated voters and is often told that if she is a Republican, the voter will vote for her.

“It’s been really surprising to me how outward people are being about their party affiliation,” Humphries said.

Efforts to reach Humphries’ opponent, Democrat Kristi Kirk, weren’t successful. Kirk says on her website that public education is “the foundation of a thriving community.” Her website says she supports “stable, securely funded” public schools.

Whether the legislative elections significantly change the makeup of the House remains to be seen.

The chamber has 85 Republicans and 40 Democrats now. Democrats predict a good election may result in a handful of additional seats, perhaps five or six.

Even small changes could affect legislation. The school funding bill passed the House with just 63 votes – the bare minimum needed.

Democrats and moderate Republicans made inroads into the Legislature in 2016. That makes further seat-flipping more difficult this year, said Russell Arben Fox, a political scientist at Friends University.

Some moderate Republicans also lost their primary elections in August.

“Because of that change back in 2016, there’s not a whole of lot of Republicans that are likely to be swept out of place by whatever blue wave actually makes its way down to southcentral Kansas,” Fox said.

Democratic gains in the House are more likely in northeast Kansas, he said. In those races, Democrats – if they win – may be replacing moderate Republicans.

Just don’t look for the same thing to happen in and around Wichita.

“In terms of the statehouse, I don’t really think that you’re going to see any overturns in this area,” Fox said.

Learn more about the candidates

To find out where candidates stand on education and other issues, go to The Eagle’s digital voter guide at Kansas.com/politics. Enter your address and find your candidates. You can create a sample ballot, too.