Superintendent Stacey Fager expects school officials across the state will spend the summer awaiting legal advice on how to navigate the many legislative changes affecting education.
Gone are the days when legislators kept their focus on education’s budget; now they’re wading into what subjects can be taught, who can participate in what sports and activities, and even crossing the line between religion and state.
“For the most part, I think public education has always been kind of apolitical. It’s becoming politicized and a lot of the policies are detrimental to public education,” Fager said.
Kansas lawmakers waited until the final day of the session last week to pass a K-12 education package.
The bill fully funds education while expanding a private school tax credit, allowing private school students to participate in public school sports and activities and gives the state first rights to abandoned school buildings.
Earlier in the session, lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes related to transgender individuals, banning them from school sports and from using women’s restrooms, locker rooms and other gender-specific areas.
Those new laws are likely to be challenged in court. Regarding a ban on transgender athletes, President Joe Biden proposed a rule that such bans would violate Title IX, the gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972, but also leaves open a path for separation.
“Schools can be caught in the middle,” Fager said.
“You have federal laws that are in place regarding non-discrimination. If the state law is different, where do schools side?
“We try to get legal opinions because we don’t want to put any of our personnel in legal jeopardy.”
FAGER CLOSELY watches Legislative sessions each year, and notes efforts to politicize education have increased.
“It just seems like in the past couple of years, these things have really gained momentum,” he said.
Many of the proposals considered by lawmakers in the past couple of years have not originated with the Kansas Board of Education but from outside groups, such as a proposed “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” That bill did not pass, but Fager expects lawmakers to keep trying for something similar in the future.
A parental rights bill would allow parents to object to any educational materials or activities that they believe would harm the student or parents’ beliefs, values or principles. Educational materials would include reading material, websites, videos and textbooks.
Fager sees such things as an attempt to usurp the authority of local school boards. Local board members approve curriculum based on recommendations from educators, who spend a considerable amount of time carefully studying and testing the materials. They are held accountable for those decisions.
“It starts to muddy the water if people are given the authority to pretty much act like school boards and determine what is appropriate and what isn’t,” Fager said. “It could create an instance where you could be constantly questioned on the appropriateness of what you teach in a classroom.”
