Kansas school boards should give students a seat at the grown-up table | Opinion
It would certainly be nice if Kansas school boards had to listen once in a while to the people whose lives they affect the most — students.
Fortunately, a bill to make that happen has been prefiled for the legislative session that begins less than two weeks from now.
House Bill 2415 by state Rep. Nikki McDonald of Johnson County would require school boards across the state to select and seat a youth member to represent and advocate for the student population, which often goes unheard because they’re mostly too young to vote in board elections.
Under the bill, the student member would be appointed by the local school board and would have to be a sophomore, junior or senior in a district high school.
They would sit as a board member with a voice, but without a vote.
This isn’t weird. At least 30 states make some provision for students to serve as board members.
Some allow the student rep to vote on board issues. Their vote is recorded in the meeting minutes, but not counted toward passing or rejecting action items.
Student representatives proved their worth especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Districts that had them were able to get real-time and unfiltered student feedback on the effectiveness — and issues with — online instruction, mask mandates and vaccination requirements.
McDonald’s bill is a good conversation starter for student representation in Kansas.
But looking at the details, it could be improved.
When the school board appoints the student representative, there’s too big a risk that they’d choose the student most likely to echo the politics, policies and priorities of the board, which kind of defeats the purpose.
In some states, students pick their representatives via school elections.
In districts with only one high school, the students can vote directly for their board member. Some larger districts with multiple high schools use a sort of mini electoral college, where students at each high school elect representatives to a committee, which then meets and chooses the student board member.
Doing it that way makes it more of an exercise in civics education than just the board appointing, another good reason to let the students choose.
It wouldn’t put any additional hardship on schools, which already hold elections for student council positions.
Actually, in some states, the student body president serves as the non-voting member of the school board.
To me, that doesn’t seem to be best practice, because high school student government is mainly an exercise in planning social events. Organizing the prom and the homecoming parade takes a different skill set than helping shape district educational policy.
If I were setting up a system for student representation, I’d have the high school kids vote for two — a senior to serve immediately and an alternate/successor, a junior or sophomore, who would take over as board representative when the senior member graduated. That would guarantee continuity of representation through the summer months until the next school year’s elections.
Here’s hoping McDonald’s bill gets a committee hearing this session, so details can be worked out and a plan finalized.
There are lots of ways to do student representation, but I do think it serves a purpose and ought to be required.
It just makes sense that the people most impacted by school board decisions ought to have some say in them, when they’re too young to vote, but old enough to understand the issues and give meaningful input.
And I have yet to see a high school without students who could do that job. So let’s get it done.
