Kansas State Department of Education

Kansas State Department of Education
Leadership and Support Through Student Learning
State education agency overview
FormedJanuary 14, 1969 (1969-01-14)
  • Kansas Superintendent of Public Instruction
JurisdictionState of Kansas
Headquarters
  • Dr. Randy Watson, Commissioner of Education
Parent department
State of Kansas
WebsiteKSDE Website

The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is a state agency responsible for administration of the state's K-12 education system. It is governed by a ten-member board, the State Board of Education, which appoints the Commissioner of Education.[1] The Board helps determine educational policy for the state's primary and secondary schools.[2]

Kansas State Board of Education

Under the original Kansas Constitution adopted in 1859, the Superintendent of Public Instruction was established as a partisan elected office, with responsibility for overseeing the state's public school system.[3] In 1966, Kansas voters ratified a constitutional amendment that eliminated the elected Superintendent, replacing the position with a ten-member elected Board of Education with responsibility for appointing the Commissioner. The ten districts are drawn every ten years by combining four adjoining State Senate districts.[4][5]

District Name Party Start Next Election
1 Danny Zeck Republican January 3, 2023 2026 (retiring)
2 Melanie Haas Democratic January 12, 2021 2028
3 Michelle Dombrosky Republican January 1, 2019 2026 (retiring)
4 Connie O'Brien Republican January 13, 2025 2028
5 Cathy Hopkins Republican January 3, 2023 2026 (retiring)
6 Beryl New Democratic January 13, 2025 2028
7 Dennis Hershberger Republican January 3, 2023 2026 (retiring)
8 Betty Arnold Democratic January 12, 2021 2028
9 Jim Porter Republican January 2015 2026 (retiring)
10 Debby Potter Republican January 13, 2025 2028

Intelligent design controversies

In 1999, the Board voted to eliminate most references to evolution, the age of the Earth, and the origin of the universe from the state's science standards and to remove these topics from the state's standardized tests. The Board relied heavily on material from the Creation Science Association of Mid America in constructing science standards that minimized the teaching of evolution.[6] The Board was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for the new rules.[7] However, after the 2000 elections altered the composition of the Board, it reversed its 1999 decision, instead requiring instruction on all those topics and restoring them to standardized tests.[8]

A shift after the 2004 election restored a conservative majority on the Board, which voted to adopt new science standards, effective in 2007, that mandated equal time for the theories of evolution and "intelligent design." The decision was condemned by Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who argued, "If we're going to bring high-tech jobs to Kansas and move our state forward, we need to strengthen science standards, not weaken them."[9] Finally, following yet another shift at the 2006 election, which elected a moderate majority, the Board reversed the decision and restored the state's original science-based standards.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Article VI, Section 3, Constitution of Kansas, 1859, retrieved February 15, 2025 – via Kansas Secretary of State
  2. ↑ "About Us". Kansas State Department of Education. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  3. ↑ Heller, Francis H. (2011). The Kansas State Constitution. Oxford University Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-19-977899-7. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  4. ↑ Yeargain, Quinn (2023). "Shadow Districts" (PDF). Cardozo Law Review. 45 (2): 424, 448–49. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  5. ↑ "Kansas State Board of Education". Kansas Department of Education. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  6. ↑ Green, John C.; Rozell, Mark J.; Wilcox, Clyde, eds. (2003). The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium. Georgetown University Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0878403929.
  7. ↑ "Ig Nobel Prize Winners". Improbable Research. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  8. ↑ Cavanagh, Sean (May 10, 2005). "Kansas Hears from Critics of Evolution". Education Week. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  9. ↑ Wilgoren, Jodi (November 9, 2005). "Kansas Board Approves Challenges to Evolution". The New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Kansas board boosts evolution education". NBC News. February 13, 2007. Retrieved February 15, 2025.

Further reading

  • Kester, D., & Kester, J. (1985). History of the Kansas State Department of Education. Topeka, KS: Kansas Department of Education.
  • Throckmorton, A.F. (1967). Kansas Educational Progress: 1858-1967. Topeka, KS: Kansas State Department of Public Instruction.
  • Throckmorton, Adel F. (1960). Our Kansas System of Education. Topeka, KS: Kansas State Department of Public Instruction.
  • Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, Strategies Evolve as Candidates Prepare for Kansas Board Races. Science 3 February 2006 311: 588-589 DOI 10.1126/science.311.5761.588
  • Yudhijit Bhattarcharjee, Evolution Trumps Intelligent Design in Kansas Vote. Science 11 August 2006 313: 743 DOI 10.1126/science.313.5788.743
  • AAAS Board of Directors, On the Kansas State Board of Education Decision on the Education of Students in the Science of Evolution and Cosmology. Science 12 November 1999 286: 1297 DOI 10.1126/science.286.5443.1297b
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