Kansas lawmakers review data on school board members related to school employees

Hundreds of school board members would be barred from serving in Kansas if lawmakers move forward with a proposed conflict of interest bill.

A special legislative committee reviewed a survey of school board members from across the state Friday.

Nearly 41 percent of respondents would have some conflict under a bill that would prohibit someone from serving as a school board member if he or she – or a spouse, sibling or parent – was employed by any school district.

HB 2345 failed to gain traction during the last legislative session. But it gained new life this fall when the Special Committee on Ethics, Elections and Local Government surveyed school board members. The committee took no action Friday.

The survey drew responses from 1,136 school board members from across the state, 40.9 percent of whom said they had at least one potential conflict under the bill. Another 862 did not respond.

Kansas law already prevents someone from serving on a school board in a district where he or she is employed. “You can’t be your own boss,” said Mark Tallman, spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

However, the law does not keep a person who teaches in Wichita from serving on the Goddard school board if he or she resides in the district.

The proposed bill would affect at least 35 school board members who said they work for a school district or the Department of Education. They would not be able to run for re-election.

Among other survey respondents:

▪ 339 said they had a spouse, sibling or parent employed by a school district.

▪ 16 said they had a spouse, sibling or parent employed by the Kansas Department of Education.

▪ 173 said they reside in a home where a school district or Department of Education employee resides.

▪ 122 had an interest in a business that provides services to the state of Kansas or their school district of residence.

Ken Willard, a member of the State Board of Education who lives in Hutchinson, said the bill was far too broad. It would forbid a person from serving on a school board if her brother was a bus driver in a school district 200 miles away.

Greg Tice, a member of the Renwick school board who is married to a middle school teacher, said the bill would disqualify several members on his board.

Tice said he had voted in favor of a salary increase for teachers but contended that was not a conflict of interest because it benefited all teachers, not just his wife.

Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, reasoned that if voters in the Renwick district saw a problem, they could rectify that in the next election. He called the bill a fix in search of a problem.

Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth, however, said conflicts of interest do exist. If a school superintendent should not be allowed to serve on his local school board, he asked, then why should his wife be allowed to serve?

“I’m just wondering how we make that distinction,” Fitzgerald said.

Merlyn Spare, a retired teacher and former school board member from the St. John-Hudson district, said school board members should recuse themselves when real conflicts of interest exist. Kansas law leaves the decision of whether to recuse oneself from a vote up to individual school board members.

Lawmakers don’t have to abstain from voting on bills in the Legislature that could benefit them, their businesses or their families. Spare said school board members with integrity are capable of making this decision themselves, just as lawmakers do.

He also asked whether school board members with children enrolled in the district should be considered to have a conflict of interest.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Kansas lawmakers review data on school board members related to school employees."