17-05-2025
GOP state Board of Education members decry strings often attached to federal funding
Michelle Dombrosky, an Olathe member of the Kansas State Board of Education, was among three members sharing concern about the board's practice of routinely voting to accept federal grant funding for programs in public school districts. The frustration is tied to apprehension about government spending as well as strings attached to federal grants. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — A trio of Republican members on the Kansas State Board of Education shared frustration with routine acceptance of federal grants for education programs that include policy mandates contrary to political perspectives of many of their constituents.
During recent meetings of the state Board of Education, members Debby Potter of Garden Plain, Connie O'Brien of Tonganoxie and Michelle Dombrosky of Olathe shared objections to linking federal spending to policy.
Attorneys with the state Board of Education and Kansas State Department of Education warned the 10-member board to give careful consideration to votes on federal grants to avoid undermining operation of school districts statewide.
'If we just vote 'no' on money, then where does that leave us?' said state board chairperson Cathy Hopkins of Hays. 'What is the plan?'
Dombrosky, who won election to the board in 2018 and reelection in 2022, said federal aid to schools was infected with ill-conceived mandates put in place by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. Objectionable ideas attached to education grants made it into books and other classroom resources, she said. Republican President Donald Trump is in the process of reversing Biden-era mandates, she said.
'A lot of parents went crazy over the curriculum that was coming into our school system,' she said. 'Now, we have a new administration that's in there that's pulling these things back, because people voted for that. People wanted that out of there. They wanted it out of the school system.'
She said the state's acceptance of federal aid placed local Kansas school districts in a quandary.
'Sounds to me like we've fostered a dependency on the federal money,' Dombrosky said. 'If this money were to go away tomorrow, would it stand alone on merit?'
O'Brien, a former member of the Kansas House who won election to the state board in 2024, said excessive spending across government and mounting debt at the federal level necessitated cuts in expenditures. She also expressed opposition to anchoring policy to federal grants.
'When I talk to people, they're concerned about taxes,' she said. 'At some point, we need to start reining in the spending part and we're going to have to do it in education, health care, everything.'
Potter, also elected last year to the state board, has said obligations attached to federal grants sought to diminish the influence of parents who were responsible for deciding the type of education provided their children.
The federal government is an intrusion into the relationship between parents and teachers, she said.
Potter said she was eager to create an environment that restored public faith in the state Board of Education.
'I'm trying to change the culture, somewhat, of the board,' Potter said.
She said she wanted more information included in official minutes of monthly state board meetings so Kansans had a better idea what transpired and what was said on financial and policy matters.
'We have constituents that do not trust the administration, and the administration has not earned my trust either,' she said.
Scott Gordon, general counsel to the Kansas State Department of Education, said most federally funded programs included measures intended to hold recipients accountable. Failure to comply could place the entirety of funding at risk, he said.
'Generally, there is an all-or-none approach to compliance,' Gordon said. 'You don't get to comply with 75% or 80% of the federal requirements and still get to keep all the money.'
For example, he said, on April 8 the state board voted on a motion to earmark $20,000 in federal funds to sponsor public service announcements with information about where children could receive free meals during summer months. The 5-5 tie vote was equivalent to rejection of the motion, which meant opponents Dombrosky, P0tter, O'Brien, Dennis Hershberger and Danny Zeck, all Republicans, were successful in blocking expenditure of those federal dollars to inform children and families.
That federal funding previously created a 1:3 match, meaning the $20,000 investment generated the equivalent of $60,000 in advertising in Kansas.
Gordon said the board's vote on the $20,000 allocation was the type that theoretically could threaten Kansas' free- and reduced-lunch program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state Department of Education has the option of seeking an alternative funding source for promoting the summer food program, he said.
'It doesn't just hurt the board or the department,' he said. 'It hurts the people that are relying on that money.'
Mark Ferguson, who has provided legal counsel to the state Board of Education since 2009, said the recommendation wasn't that board members should continue federal programs just because the state had done so for years.
'There's not an expectation that you continue to just rubber stamp those things,' he said.
He urged the state Board of Education to work through funding or policy issues in a way that provided due process to recipients of those programs. Due process included notice to Kansans about potential changes and granted people an opportunity to share their views, he said.
He said the state board hadn't previously incorporated the due process piece into decision making because, as a whole, actions of the state board on federal programs largely maintained the status quo. Change in the state board's membership altered the dynamic sufficiently to warrant adoption of due process guidelines, he said.
'I would encourage the board, if making decisions that negatively impact others, to factor in due process,' Ferguson said. 'Let's not just vote 'no' and take that away. Let's anticipate that decision, give notice to the public and get some input so that's not just the rug being pulled out in the 11th hour.'
