Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita, was unsuccessful in pressuring Kansas State Board of Education member Jim Porter to reveal which members of a Kansas Legislature task force on education that he thought were campaigning to promote the idea K-12 public schools were failing. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — Sen. Renee Erickson challenged a Kansas State Board of Education member Thursday to identify who he was referring to when criticizing individuals serving on the Legislature’s school finance reform task force.
Erickson, a Wichita Republican who chairs the task force, brought a discussion on special education to a halt by insisting Board of Education member Jim Porter, who serves on the task force, identify task force members he claimed were biased against public schools.
She read as evidence portions of the transcript of Porter’s statements during a June meeting of the state Board of Education in which he warned colleagues that two members of the school finance task force were promoting negative opinions about K-12 education in Kansas.
“You say you’ll name names. I’m giving you the opportunity,” Erickson said.
Porter, a retired school superintendent from Fredonia, declined to specify which task force members he thought were campaigning to vilify public schools.
“I stand by everything I said,” Porter told the senator. “I think you made my point, thank you very much.”
During Porter’s commentary to the state Board of Education in June, he had reported that some members of the Legislature’s task force on education had spoken about schools in Kansas as if they were failing to educate students. He said some on the task force would likely argue the state Board of Education lowered academic standards to make it appear students were doing better.
“I believe that words matter and whenever we question the integrity of the people making decisions in schools, I think we need to be very careful about what we say,” Porter said.
Erickson indicated she was disappointed Porter wouldn’t reveal the identity of task force members that he thought were striving to undermine public education.
“I think that’s sad,” said Erickson, who is a former teacher. “Regardless of where we stand in education, I have never impugned the motives of those working in education.”
She said she took offense that Porter implied the Legislature’s task force hadn’t been working in the best interest of Kansas students. She characterized Porter’s remarks as “cowardly.”
On Thursday, the fracas erupted when Porter took a moment to praise the ability of virtual school educators to increase graduation rates among high school students statewide. Porter also said he regretted not responding to comments by task force members in June questioning the state Board of Education’s emphasis on raising the Kansas high school graduation rate. In the past four years, the rate has ranged from 86% to 89%.
Skepticism about relevance of high school graduation statistics as a measure of student learning has most aggressively been advanced by task force member Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta. She asserted the graduation rate at Wichita Southeast High School had been distorted by manipulation of student academic records. The high school’s principal was replaced amid reports of grade fixing to help students graduate.
Williams said that in her opinion there was no correlation between graduation rate and student success. She implied a school that focused on graduation rates could “babysit” students, but that wouldn’t translate into student learning.
Erickson said employers had told her a high school diploma didn’t equate to a quality employee and college officials said a high school diploma didn’t guarantee success in post-secondary education.
Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat on the task force, offered support for Porter’s critique of attitudes among some on the Legislature’s task force.
“I also believe we have underplayed our graduate rates, and I find that offensive,” Pettey said.
Rep. Susan Estes, a Republican from Wichita who serves as vice chair of the task force, said retention of graduation rate as a evaluation tool might require adoption of a uniform grade point scale. In some districts, a student’s performance in a class would elicit an F grade and no credit toward graduation. But, in another district, the same work would receive a D grade and apply toward graduation requirements, she said.
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