SerpApi.Org
Kansas’s future is clearly linked to the quality of its schools tasked with educating the state’s future leaders.
As Kansas lawmakers prepare to review the state’s funding formula next year, and with ongoing national attacks on public education coming from right-leaning politicians in the current administration, it has never been more important than now to know that today’s leaders are willing to defend the existence and improvement of public education - ensuring that all children get access to quality schools.
The Star Editorial Board sat and talked with each of the three Democratic candidates for Kansas governor - state Sen. Cindy Holscher, Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog, and state Sen. Ethan Corson - about key issues in the Aug. 4 primary. Here’s some of what they each had to say about education and schools in Kansas. All three mentioned the state’s failure to fully fund special education at public schools.
Ethan Corson
State Sen. Corson, whose background is in economic development, talked a lot about bringing tax relief to Kansas residents, and he said he favors more local control when it comes to how much communities want to spend on services, such as schools.
As Corson talked about the importance of fully funding public education, he made the direct connection between property taxes and school funding. Like in other states, Kansas schools are funded through property taxes.
Corson has a plan for easing the property tax burden on Kansas residents. He also ensures the plan wouldn’t leave schools unfunded, including special education. Corson proposes filling funding gaps - that might result from proposed changes to property tax law - “with income tax and sales tax revenue to make the schools whole, so they would still get the funding they need,” he said.
Currently, Kansas law requires the state to reimburse 92% of special education costs, but state aid covers only between 62% and 67%. This gap means school districts have to transfer funds from their general operating budgets to cover the difference.
When it comes to vouchers, or using public dollars for private education, Corson said if he is elected governor, “I would veto any legislation that resembles a voucher.”
Corson said he believes the current school funding formula is “serving the state well,” but “we do have to address the shortfall in special education funding.” He said he does favor a boost in teacher pay, and moving teachers into a more generous state retirement tier.
Corson, who is the father of two young children, said he thinks people are hungry for people who “really understand what Kansas families today are going through, which is a very different set of challenges than Kansas families were experiencing 20, 30 years ago.”
As the parent of a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old, he said he “understands what the child care challenges are. I understand the challenges around homeownership. I went to a Kansas public school, but I also have a son in the same Kansas public school district that I went to. So, I’ve got a stake in our public education system.”
Cindy Holscher
State Sen. Holscher said that along with affordability, “continuing to ensure that education is fully funded” is a top priority for her.
“We have been doing the job on funding general education, but not special education,” Holscher said. “That hasn’t been fully funded since 2011. That hurts all of our communities, and to me, it’s part of that complex structure of affordability because children need access to solid schools, and the state needs to do its part in that funding.”
She said that ultimately it’s the Legislature’s responsibility to ensure public schools are funded. “We’re constitutionally mandated to fund general education,” Holscher said. “We’re federally mandated to cover special education.
Holscher said that when the state leaves major funding gaps in education, “the obligation gets shifted to the local level. … That means property taxes go up.”
Holscher told The Star she has done a lot of work to block voucher bills in the Legislature, and that she is passionately opposed to any voucher program that draws public dollars away from public schools.
“When people understand what’s at work here and that they potentially could lose their public schools, they don’t want that to happen,” she said.
“Public funds should go to public facilities,“ Holscher said. “The fact of the matter is that at least 7 out of 10 vouchers, sometimes eight, 80% of them, go to families whose kids were already attending private schools, and they make over six figures. It’s a transfer of wealth. That’s all it is.”
Indeed, a national study from Tulane University examining 11 states with universal vouchers in 2025 found that more than 90% of voucher recipients were already enrolled in private schools. So in those instances, vouchers do not expand access to private education, but rather subsidize private education for private school students.
She also made the case that gutting public education dramatically hurts rural communities because “in some of our rural areas, the public school is one of the largest employers.” She called it their “lifeline,” saying, “They’ve already lost their hospital. If they lose their schools, they’re really in big trouble.”
Fighting for schools and working families, Holscher said, is at the top of her list because “public schools and a good union job are what propelled my family out of poverty. And I know it’s the key to helping people be successful and try to reach middle class.”
Curt Skoog
Overland Park Mayor Skoog talked to the editorial board about building strong communities across the state, and pointed out that he, his wife and children - along with his pick for lieutenant governor, local physician Jennifer Bacani McKenney - all attended public schools.
“We need to think about education from early education all the way through graduate school, including our trade schools and our other programs,” Skoog said. “And we need to think about how they all work together and how we can be as efficient as possible to deliver those across the state.”
Skoog said that should he be elected governor, he would take a hard look at the state’s school funding formula and support “more broadly” funding public education. “This is about fully funding education, including special education.”
Like the other two candidates in this primary, Skoog said he is very much opposed to the school voucher program. “I am firmly against vouchers and anything that takes money from our public school system.”
Skoog said diverting public dollars to private schools in the name of school choice doesn’t work for a lot of Kansans living in the western part of the state, where in many cases, the only choice available is public school.
“They couldn’t go to a private school if they wanted. They don’t have that choice,” Skoog said.
Having strong and fully funded public schools, Skoog said, “is one of the bedrocks of any thriving community.” The other keys, he said, are strong healthcare and the preservation of water.
“Education fits into the key parts of building a thriving state. Without those three basic systems working well together, we’re going to continue where we are, which is declining populations and job loss across the state.”
