Two locally elected officials and a former substitute teacher are running for an open seat on the Kansas Board of Education after a three-term incumbent didn’t run for reelection. 

Republicans have won this seat in the past five elections 

Election day is Nov. 5, Oct. 15 is the last day to register to vote and early voting starts Oct. 16. You can find your polling place and the races you vote in here. 

Who are the candidates for District 10? 

Democrat Jeffrey Jarman 

Jarman has spent eight years on the Maize Board of Education, including four as president. 

Jarman is the director of the School of Communications at Wichita State University. He’s taught at WSU for 29 years, including 20 years as the school’s debate coach. 

“One important task of a member of the State Board of Education is to advocate

for public schools with the legislature and the public,” he said. “I believe my combined experience makes me well qualified for the position.”

He is endorsed by the Kansas National Education Association and Game On for Kansas Schools. 

His campaign website is here. 

Republican Debby Potter 

Potter spent three years as a substitute teacher and founded the Wichita Falls Home School Co-op in Texas. 

Potter’s husband is in the Air Force, which meant her children were schooled in four different states and England. She eventually home-schooled the children. 

“Her experience has given her a passion for empowerment of parents, school choice and curriculum,” according to her campaign website. “She hopes to join the BOE to amplify the voice of the parents as they raise and educate their children in Kansas’ school systems.” 

She is endorsed by Kansans for Life. 

Her campaign website is here. 

Independent Kent Rowe

Rowe has a plethora of college education. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Missouri-Columbia and Massey University in New Zealand — where he lived for 10 years. 

He’s taken classes in chemistry and Chinese language and has a bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology from Wichita State. Rowe also has a master’s degree in human factors engineering and a doctorate in toxicology and safety management. 

Rowe has been an associate professor of aeronautical science for the U.S. Air Force and served on military bases in the Midwest and Europe. He’s been mayor of Longton in Elk County, Kansas, and currently lobbies for the Kansas Sierra Club. 

“Being educated in both urban and rural public schools in Kansas, my K-12 experiences afforded me a remarkably diverse memory of cultures, attitudes and methodologies employed by educators and administrators,” he said. “Many, many miles were traversed in school buses

traveling to and from school sessions in varying weather conditions.”

His website is here. 

What is the first thing you’d do in office if elected? 

Jarman: All of my decisions on the board will be guided by core principles to do what is in the best interest of students, while providing support to teachers and staff. I will keep politics out of education. As a part of my campaign, I am visiting with many schools in District 10 to learn about the innovative programs in each school district. I have been blown away by the initiatives that schools are using to help students succeed. I will be ready to hit the ground running to continue to support student success in Kansas.

Potter: Potter told The Beacon that she’s been going to meetings for years, and she continues to see the Board of Education rushing votes and spending money. If elected, she’d like to slow down the decision-making process so the public can be informed and give more informed feedback. 

“(I want people) actually knowing where the money is going and what it’s being spent on before we vote to spend it,” she said. 

Rowe: If elected, I will be resourcing, listening and seeking satisfaction from all BOE members, teachers, lawmakers and legislators on their goals, motivations and means to accomplish milestones. Reducing carbon footprint in school operations is vital.

How can the Board of Education better support students who are falling behind? 

Jarman: The state board recently introduced the science of reading, a change designed to get all students reading at grade level by the third grade. It will take several years to fully implement, but it will be easier to keep students from falling behind as their reading scores increase … (My Republican opponent) is aligned with members of the board who vote against programs for at-risk students, which have no additional costs. Losing these programs would increase the problem of students falling behind.

Potter:  I believe school choice is the only way parents and teachers together will be able to meet the needs of students … We need to continue to move away from a one-size-fits-all educational model. School choice empowers local school boards, parents, teachers, and students to explore various educational models limited only by the creativity of all involved.

Rowe: Kansas State BOE has already adopted the “Kansas Can” (October 2015) vision thereby allowing learners to excel in their choice of curricula which excites, uplifts and stimulates them to pursue a course of knowledge acquisition. Ideally, Kansas Can will contain “embedded training” of math, science, history, art, indigenous studies, etc.

What role should the Kansas Board of Education play in LGBTQ+ issues? 

Jarman: The State Board of Education does not have a role to play in LGBTQ issues. The state board is tasked with issues such as graduation requirements, school accreditation and teacher licensure. When there is a decision to make, local boards of education are the appropriate place to make those decisions. For example, local districts already have the responsibility and authority to review all of the material available to their students. Recent attempts to bring these issues to the state board only derail the board from focusing on important topics such as increasing student achievement.

Potter: Potter said districts need to stay out of these decisions because educators teach students to read, write and learn other necessary skills. LGBTQ+ issues are not their area of expertise. 

The state board “should not get between parents and their kids and doctors,” she said. “I believe that God made boys, boys and girls, girls. That’s what I believe. If their birth certificate says they’re a girl (or if) their birth certificate says they’re a boy, that’s what the school has to go on.”

Rowe: LBGTQ issues and related subjects can be alleviated through desensitization through teaching of key persons in history, causation (both physical and non-physical determinants) as well as speakers invited into the classrooms to dispel stereotypes, prejudices and bigotry. Uphold dignity.

How can the Board of Education support teachers? 

Jarman: Public education is under attack. It is no surprise that we have a growing shortage of teachers (and many other critical staff positions) given the false and misleading accusations that regularly are made against teachers. While serving on the board in Maize, I saw firsthand the hard work of teachers and staff to ensure our students were successful … As a board member, I will strongly support the work of teachers and staff across the state.

Potter: Potter noted simplifying the accreditation process and focusing on the basics of education. 

“The state does not need to direct the social/emotional training of children,” she said. “Again, if a student has social/emotional issues, then this is something trained medical professionals should be addressing, not a school curriculum.” 

Potter said the federal government is too focused on unnecessary programs — like diversity, equity and inclusion — that schools are struggling to meet the most basic standards. 

Rowe: Kansas BOE can support teachers through increased salaries, counseling and mental health services, wellness programs, special education expansion, family leave allowances and an array of needs and demands already voiced by teachers themselves.

Do you think Kansas schools have quality curriculum? Why or why not? 

Jarman: The state board sets the standards for what students should know in each academic area and at each grade level, but these are not curriculum. For example, the state board sets the expectation that kindergarten students can act out adding and subtracting with objects and their fingers. Local school districts determine the curriculum they will use to meet each of the standards. Local districts select the textbooks and other material that will be used for daily instruction in order to meet the general standard set by the state board. I support this arrangement for decisions about curriculum.

Potter: Potter said that school curriculum was sufficient when she was a substitute teacher. 

“I have personal preferences of curriculum that I believe would probably be better, because of all the years I homeschooled,” she said over email. “That said, it again goes back to school choice. With school choice comes choice of curriculum. And again, one size does not fit all. Even among my eight children, I found they had their different learning styles and some curriculums were better suited to one learning style over another. Teachers need to be able to use curriculums that they believe are best for how they teach and how the students learn.”

Rowe: Kansas would have a quality education curriculum except for lack of funding from state lawmakers in Topeka. Funding shortfalls arise from maligned policies of regional elected leaders. Please refer to (my next response) and review my campaign to acquire funding for public schools and alleviate the educational apartheid and education deserts which exist from district to district.

Is there an issue/question that you weren’t asked that you want to talk about?

Jarman: The state board has an important role to play as an advocate for stable funding for education in Kansas. My opponent supports vouchers where the money follows the students. The voucher program she would fight for would immediately cut hundreds of millions of dollars or more from public school budgets (without any reduction in the number of students that must be educated). This would lead to consolidation, school closures, increased class sizes, the elimination of extracurricular activities, and increased property taxes (since local boards would need to replace some of the lost revenue).

Potter: Potter said schools are currently failing students, but she isn’t comfortable sharing all her ideas because they’ll get twisted during a partisan race for office. 

“I hope to share my ideas with them (and with parents) in time and see what they do with it,” she said over email. “I know to stay in my lane, but if I’m working with them directly, then maybe if they need anything at the state board level to be done to help them, or if I can bring something to the attention of our legislators, I plan to do what I can to help.”

“I’m not saying anything that’s disturbing, but it’ll just get twisted,” she said. “I’m not an extremist.”

Rowe: Ten percent of public schools across the U.S.A. now have renewable energy (Generation 180). Solar-for-all-schools is a very achievable policy for school districts to partner with their respective rural electric cooperatives to earn revenue through the electrical markets. Combined with the Clean School Bus campaign, stored energy can power the schools’ facilities when prices are optimal to sell surplus electricity onto the open market by way of demand response, time-of-use and deferred capacity. As a judge of papers submitted during the

2019 North American Power Symposium, I know this is becoming a reality now by way of the modern electrical grid with passage of FERC 2022 and the IRA.