RV B.O.E. meets with Senate, House candidates
The Royal Valley Board of Education held a state candidate forum on Monday in order to start a dialogue regarding education that board members hope will continue once the candidates are elected to the state Senate or House of Representatives.
Prior to the regular meeting, the board met at 6 p.m. with Democrat Jerry Henry, who is seeking the First District Senate seat; and Democrat Lauren Van Wagoner and Republican Francis Awerkamp, who are both running for the District 61st seat of the Kansas House of Representatives.
Current state Senator Dennis Pyle (Republican) was invited and unable to attend the meeting and was expected to respond via email to the board of education’s questions, according to Superintendent Aaric Davis.
In addition to the board and the candidates, 11 members of the public attended the forum.
Each candidate was given 20 minutes to answer the following questions:
* Tell about yourself, your experience in politics and education.
* A new school finance formula will be approved during the next legislative session. What would you like the new formula to emphasize?
* Do you think the current spending by the state of Kansas on education is adequate? Why or why not?
* Do you agree with the tax cuts of 2012, and how would you propose the state of Kansas produce more revenue to help adequately fund education and stabilize the budget without raising taxes?
* What are your thoughts on school consolation and who should determine if schools should consolidate?
* Is there any additional information you want the board to know?
Henry, who was the first to answer the questions, said that lawmakers need to go back and look at the old school funding formula but also be open to possible changes.
“My goal is to keep school buildings open,” Henry said.
Henry said that education is moving fast, and Kansas schools need to remain competitive.
“We need to hit standards and make our students competitive for a global society,” he said. “It’s about not offering a basic education but a suitable one. It’s going to take more funding to keep up with those standards. Education is moving so fast, and we need it to be appropriate for the time we’re living in.”
Regarding the 2012 tax cuts, Henry said the state needs to restructure its tax plan.
“It needs to be stable, fair and balanced,” he said. “Income taxes have to be on par with property taxes because now property taxes are on the rise.”
Regarding consolidation, Henry said that decision should be made by each individual school board and not the state.
“Consolidation is one of the things I fear the most,” he said. “It was the big ‘C’ word and now it’s the big ‘B’ word, bankruptcy - consolidation by bankruptcy.”
Van Wagoner addressed the board next and expressed her passion for education in Kansas. In 2015, she walked 60 miles to protest the inadequate funding of public schools.
“About 10 miles outside of Topeka, we stopped for a break. I took off my shoes and my feet were battered and bloody, but I was determined to walk every step of the way for the love of my children and our school district,” said Van Wagoner, who lives in Hoyt and whose children attend Royal Valley. “I made a promise to my children, and I’m prepared to go to Topeka and fight like a mama bear.”
Van Wagoner said she has three goals to help educators if elected, including renewing due process rights, protecting their retirement funding and giving them the respect they deserve.
“Thanks for scraping your bank account to educate my children,” she said. “Rural schools are the backbone of our community.”
Van Wagoner said the state is not adequately funding education and that it needs to increase its per pupil spending.
“We need to keep up with the rate of inflation,” she said. “Technology is expensive, but it is a necessity for our kids. Those things help our kids stay ahead.”
Regarding taxes, Van Wagoner said the tax cuts need to change.
“I think it’s a tax shift,” she said. “We need to fix the loophole and, hopefully, bring sales tax down some. I think they need to be repealed. At this point, our state can’t afford to lose any more money.”
She also addressed the consolidation talks held during the last legislative session.
“We need our small schools,” she said. “You want to know what happens when we close schools? Talk to Denison. Our communities are literally built around the schools. It should be up to the boards and the communities to decide if they want to consolidate.”
Awerkamp then introduced himself to the board and fielded their questions.
Since he began serving on the St. Marys city council, Awerkamp said he approaches budgets and taxes on “justifiable needs” and that he takes the time to understand budget requests and proposals before simply approving them.
He said the key to finding a better school funding formula is better communication.
“We need to get everyone on the same page on what we want to try to accomplish,” he said.
While he said he doesn’t have the answer for school funding, he’s open to solutions and he noted he’s read about a proposal coming from the Kansas Association of School Boards that supposedly tries to “reduce the amount of fighting” between the state and local districts.
“There’s a lot of things I don’t know, but I have the willingness to work to understand them,” he said.
Awerkamp said the 2012 tax cuts have not had the effect the state intended.
“If we can reduce the tax burden, there’s more money in people’s hands and that improves the economy,” he said. “Sometimes businesses close before the schools. There’s a lot that goes into a community, and we have to look at the whole spectrum.”
Regarding who has the authority to consolidate schools, Awerkamp said it should be left up to the school districts.
“Local control is a huge thing in Kansas,” he said. “We call them local schools so let them be local schools. It’s a very personal thing. We’ve got to get Washington and the state out of what’s going on at the local level.”
