HOISINGTON — Joining Senator Mitch Holmes (R-St. John) and Rep. John Edmonds (R-Great Bend) at Saturday’s Legislative Coffee in Hoisington was Kansas Board of Education member Sally Cauble (R-Dodge City).
“You acquired me,” Cauble said Saturday, as she faced an audience of constituents who have never voted for her, because of redistricting. District 5 covers 40 counties and 67 of the state’s 285 public school districts.
Cauble said she supports local control. She is also a supporter of the Common Core education standards, which “we adopted two years ago after three years of research,” she said.
Rep. Edmonds said the House had done very little as it waits for a Kansas Supreme Court ruling on the school funding formula.
“There has been some activity on a lot of light-weight issues out of the house, but nothing you’ll remember in five years,” he said.
This past week marked the half-way point of the 2014 Legislative session.
Holmes said a bill passed that abolishes Political Action Committees operated by legislative leaders. These PACs have been used to reward or punish members of the Legislature in primary elections, Holmes said. “We’re here to represent people,” he said. “We’re not here to toe the line to (party) leadership.”
There has also been discussion on moving elections for school board and city council positions from April to November, to encourage greater voter turnout. One proposal would also make them partisan elections. At present, candidates do not declare a party affiliation.
Several of those attending Saturday spoke in favor of keeping local elections as they are. It is difficult to find people willing to run, and a partisan election would only make that more difficult, said Dean Stoskopf, president of the Hoisington Board of Education. Changing the date would also create problems with the time line for superintendent evaluations.
“Out here, most people don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat — it’s ‘what are you doing for our kids?’” Stoskopf said.
Hoisington City Manager Jonathan Mitchell said city managers also support nonpartisan elections. “I’m hired based on my skill set,” he said.
The Senate also passed a bill that requires the first appeal to a death penalty conviction to be finished in 3.5 years. “It’s not the ‘Kill ‘Em Quick’ bill,” as some have described it, Holmes said. In the 20 years since capital punishment was reinstated in Kansas, “we’ve never gotten to a second appeal.”
A bill Holmes introduced to the judiciary committee addresses habeas corpus suits filed by sexual predators in the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility. It makes it easier for judges to dismiss such suits by people who frequently file frivolous suits. “There are still protections there to guarantee people have their constitutional rights,” he added.

More audience input
Mary Ann Stoskopf, Dean’s wife, asked about SB 411, which deals with the taxing authority for Extension Districts. “I can see no reason to interfere with a law that has worked so well for so many counties,” she said.
Holmes said it just came out of committee, so he hasn’t voted on it, but that he and other legislators have been getting “bombarded” by people who oppose it.
Legislators were asked if they will support the governor’s proposal to fund all-day kindergarten in Kansas schools.
“There’s no money tree growing on the south lawn,” Edmonds said. He said it’s probably a good idea, if school districts want to pay for. But the Legislature is waiting to hearing a court ruling on the current school funding formula.
Holmes agreed on the funding problem, and said he wondered if all 5-year-olds are ready for kindergarten.
“The child is ready (at 5),” Cauble said.
Mary Ann Stoskopf said only about 15 school districts in Kansas don’t already offer all-day kindergarten.
“(But) the parents are paying for half of it,” Cauble said. “Other states have all-day kindergarten.”
Dean Stoskopf said Hoisington has all-day kindergarten and preschool, and the school district is paying for it. “That’s a local choice that we have made and we’re maxed out on our local option budget.”