With all precincts reporting, voters resoundingly favor Wichita school election change

USD 259 voters resoundingly favored changing the way school board members are elected so that only voters in the candidate’s district get to weigh in.

With all precincts reporting, the vote was 66% to 34% in favor of the change.

“That is great news,” said Wichita City Council member Brandon Johnson, who supported the change.

“With this win, it’s going to be better for folks to have better representation.”

The ballot question asked if voters in Kansas’ largest school district should pick their representatives as they do city council members and county commissioners or keep electing all BOE members at large in the general election.

Community members brought the idea of switching to district-specific voting to the school board in August, saying the current system could lead to voter disenfranchisement.

“I was very encouraged by the fact that voters looked at it objectively,” said Stan Reeser, Wichita school board president.

“I think it confirms what we were trying to say when we put it on the ballot,” he said.

Reeser said the change will lead to less confusion and more representation.

The school district is subdivided into six equally populated districts that are redrawn every 10 years. One board member represents each board district and a seventh at-large member represents the whole school district.

Since 1994, the district has employed a hybrid voting system. If more than three candidates file to run in a school board race, voters in the board district they hope to represent narrow the field to two in the primary. Then, in the general election, USD 259 voters can cast ballots in every school board race, whether or not they live in that district.

Proponents of the district-specific voting change said it would ensure residents are represented by someone who prioritizes the specific needs of their district. They pointed to 2017, when Ben Blankley defeated Betty Arnold for the District 1 seat even though Arnold outperformed him 64.3% to 35.8% among district residents.

Ronnette Wills, 45, an advocate for the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center who cast her ballot Tuesday morning at the Heart of Christ Church polling station, said she supported district-specific school board voting.

“I think it’s important for us to to elect our own people,” Wills said.

Opponents of district-specific voting said it was preferable to elect seven board members who answer to everyone in the community — not just voters in their own district.

The school board voted 4-3 to initiate the ballot question, with members of the board’s conservative minority citing concerns that efforts to change the election system may be politically motivated.

Three school board seats are up for election in 2023.

This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 7:47 PM.