Latest news with #KansasBoardofRegents
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Vice chairman of Kansas Board of Regents to resign post with two years left on term
Jon Rolph, center, a Wichita member of the Kansas Board of Regents, plans to resign from the higher education panel with two years remaining on his second four-year term. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The vice chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents intends to resign from the state higher education board rather than complete the final two years of his second term. Jon Rolph, president and CEO of a Wichita restaurant company, was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2019 by Gov. Laura Kelly. He is expected to depart by June 30. The governor would appoint a replacement, subject to confirmation by the Kansas Senate, to finish a term ending in June 2027. The nine-person Board of Regents has jurisdiction over public universities, community colleges and technical colleges in Kansas. 'Jon is an enthusiastic supporter of higher education who has prioritized the needs of Kansans and our state during his time on the board,' said Carl Ice, chairman of the Board of Regents. Ice said Rolph 'helped our system implement and move forward many key strategic initiatives. He has been an outstanding colleague.' In 2021, Rolph endorsed a board policy that made it easier for campus administrators of the six state universities to suspend, dismiss or terminate employees, including tenured faculty members, without formally declaring a financial emergency. The policy was implemented in 2022 by Emporia State University to justify dismissal of 30 faculty. It triggered a state and federal court battle that continued into 2025. In 2023, Rolph revealed that he had surgery to remove a tumor in his abdomen and was undergoing treatment for cancer. Rolph was serving as chairman of the Board of Regents when the board voted in 2024 to change its diversity and multiculturalism policy under pressure from members of the Kansas Legislature. The revised policy declared state universities in Kansas couldn't require faculty to pledge 'allegiance to, support for or opposition to diversity, equity or inclusion' or DEI. 'This is, again, our good-faith effort in trying to listen to the Legislature,' Rolph said at the time. Rolph's company, Thrive Restaurant Group, operates or owns more than 170 restaurants. It is the second-largest Applebee's franchisee with restaurants in 15 states. He was a student body president at Baylor University.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blake Benson appointed chair of Kansas Board of Regents
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Board of Regents voted this week to name Blake Benson its chair and Diana Mendoza its vice chair for fiscal year 2026. Benson, of Pittsburg, and Mendoza, of Dodge City, were both appointed to the board in 2022. Benson has served as chair of the Board Fiscal Affairs and Audit Standing Committee for the past two years. Mendoza currently serves as chair of the Board Academic Affairs Standing Committee. 'I'm honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve as board chair during the upcoming year,' Benson said in a statement. 'Higher education is a powerful tool capable of transforming individual lives and uplifting entire communities. I look forward to working with my fellow regents, our Kansas colleges and universities and our external stakeholders to continue to leverage the system's strengths for the benefit of all Kansans.' Benson is president of the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Arkansas State University and a master's degree from Pittsburg State University. Now in his 28th year of chamber and economic development work, he is a certified chamber executive and a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management. He previously served as marketing director for the Rogers, Arkansas, chamber and as vice president for the Fort Smith, Arkansas, chamber. He also is past president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce Executives Association, a graduate of Leadership Kansas, and has served as board president for Mercy Hospital-Pittsburg, the Pittsburg Rotary Club, Pittsburg Family YMCA and Mount Carmel Foundation. Mendoza is the director of diversity and English for speakers of other languages at Dodge City Public Schools. The nine-member Kansas Board of Regents is the governing board of the state's six universities, including Pitt State, and the statewide coordinating board for the state's 32 public higher education institutions — six state universities, one municipal university, 19 community colleges and six technical colleges. In addition, the board administers the state's student financial aid, adult education, high school equivalency, and career and technical education programs.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kansas Board of Regents selects Pittsburg, Dodge City members to lead higher education board
Blake Benson, left, the president of the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce. was selected to serve as chairperson of the Kansas Board of Regents in the upcoming fiscal year. He will replace Regent Carl Ice, sitting, as chairman of the higher education board. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — A Pittsburg economic development professional and a Dodge City public school diversity and language director were chosen to lead the Kansas Board of Regents during the upcoming fiscal year. Blake Benson was elected to serve as chairperson of the nine-member public higher education board, while Diana Mendoza was selected as vice chairperson. The board has governance authority over six state universities and a coordination role with Washburn University in Topeka and the state's technical and community colleges. Both were appointed to the state Board of Regents in 2022 by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. 'Higher education is a powerful tool capable of transforming individual lives and uplifting entire communities,' said Benson, president of the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce. 'I look forward to working with my fellow regents, our Kansas colleges and universities and our external stakeholders to continue to leverage the system's strengths for the benefit of all Kansans.' He is in the 28th year of economic development work, and previously held positions in chamber of commerce organizations in Rogers and Fort Smith in Arkansas. He earned a journalism degree at Arkansas State University and a master's degree in business from Pittsburg State University. Benson replaced chairman Carl Ice, the retired chief executive officer of BNSF Railway, and a graduate of Coffeyville Community College and Kansas State University. Mendoza, executive director of diversity and English for speakers of other languages in the Dodge City school district, works with teachers to develop best practices for the education of culturally and linguistically diverse students. She leads an effort to support migratory youth. She said she was committed to making higher education beneficial to Kansas families and a contributing influence on the state's economy. 'Guided by the Board's strategic plan, Kansas colleges and universities are making significant strides in areas such as affordability and student success,' Mendoza said. She earned bachelor and master degrees in education at Kansas State University. She is seeking a doctorate in curriculum and instruction at Kansas State.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas Legislature turns cold shoulder to child reading program after less than one year
Cynthia Lane, director of the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy, says the decision of the 2025 Legislature to not enhance funding to the reading initiative after earmarking $10 million one year ago won't halt the plan to retrain all elementary school teachers and change instruction of college students preparing for careers in teaching. In this image, Lane joins with Blake Flanders, president of the Kansas Board of Regents, in a 2024 Kansas Reflector podcast interview. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The 2024 Kansas Legislature's commitment to intervene on behalf of 33% of Kansas students not meeting fundamental levels of reading and to elevate literacy as an economic imperative throughout the state was celebrated as a bipartisan achievement. There was $10 million in the state budget to develop instructional expertise through the Blueprint for Literacy. The idea was to enroll all Kansas elementary school teachers in graduate courses in the science of reading. Public and private universities would offer new classes to equip undergraduates with skills to implement a structured literacy curriculum useful to all students. The bottom-line objective: Significantly improve language arts skills of students in 3rd through 8th grades. Senate Bill 438 roared through the Legislature on votes of 34-3 in the Senate and 98-22 in the House. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who signed the bill in April 2024, said the legislation placed Kansas at the 'forefront of nationwide efforts to reform reading instruction.' 'By aligning the efforts of K-12 and higher education to train our educators in the science of reading, we intend to end the literacy divide for our students once and for all,' said Melanie Haas, a member of the Kansas State Board of Education responsible for K-12 schools. Cynthia Lane, a member of the Kansas Board of Regents with oversight of state universities, said the Blueprint for Literacy would prove to be one of the most important bills enacted by the Legislature and governor in 2024. She felt so strongly about the cause that she took a job as the first director of the literacy initiative. And then, as the 2025 legislative session unfolded, the Republican-led House budgeted $2 million in next year's budget to the literacy program. The GOP-controlled Senate deleted that earmark by sweeping all House appropriations of interest earned on one-time federal funds. The state budget bill eventually passed with bipartisan support and signed by Kelly contained no new funding of Blueprint for Literacy. That financial setback won't close the book on Blueprint for Literacy — at least not now while the program remained in its infancy. 'The blueprint is not ending,' Lane said. 'We're not done.' Lane said several million dollars unspent from the original $10 million allocation would be relied upon to stick with plans to enroll certified teachers in a pair of three-credit-hour graduate courses on the science of reading. State funding was allocated to cover tuition costs of teachers in graduate-level courses and to provide each with a $500 stipend. Kansas college students seeking degrees in education must enroll in two new courses in reading instruction. Those courses should be available this fall at seven public universities and at least five private colleges in Kansas. She said the original plan to establish literacy centers of excellence at universities to bring instruction closer to teachers would be idled due to financial restraints. The decision by the Legislature not to allocate additional resources for the Blueprint for Literacy was associated with skepticism the initiative had yet to show results or might not deliver on its promise, Lane said. Some critics of the Blueprint for Literacy also suggested it might be duplicative of a program developed by the Kansas State Department of Education with federal grants issued in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the 2024 state law, the Blueprint for Literacy would take all elementary teachers through a graduate curriculum to attain a micro-credential in reading instruction by 2030. Student academic goals in Senate Bill 438 would have 90% of 3rd through 8th graders achieving Level 2 on the state's four-level assessment scale. In addition, 50% of 3rd through 8th grade students would achieve Level 3 or Level 4 on the state assessment by 2033. 'It's going to be hard to do when funding is removed and teachers can't get trained,' said Lane, who was a superintendent of public schools in Kansas City, Kansas. 'This is about our children. It's about supporting our teachers.' Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the $2 million offered by the House would have been derived from interest income on the state's share of American Rescue Plan Act allotments from the federal government's economic stimulus program in 2021. Waymaster said the offer by the House was a reduction from earlier projections of what might be needed to operate Blueprint for Literacy, but would have made certain the initiative had financial support to continue on a limited basis. He said advocates of the literacy program came to the Capitol to object to pulling the funding after less than one year of implementation. Critics of the Blueprint for Literacy countered the spending hadn't turned the dial on student achievement in reading, he said. 'Senate pulled it out, because they had different ideas on what they wanted to do with the ARPA interest,' Waymaster said. 'I also heard, around the halls, the results were not there. Some didn't like it last year and, so, where we were at as far as looking at the budget, I think it was a easy chop.' Molly Baumgardner, who championed the Blueprint for Literacy before leaving the Kansas Senate after not seeking reelection in 2024, said success of the initiative was vital to the future of Kansas school children as well as the state's economy. 'We have too many kids in our state that can't read,' Baumgardner said. She said the $10 million originally invested in the program wasn't available to organizers of the reading blueprint until July 1, 2024. A task force responsible for managing the initiative nevertheless meet program development deadlines set by the Legislature. Literacy instruction courses open to college students were in operation by August 2024 as mandated, she said. The state law had attached an unusual financial penalty for noncompliance — $1 million for three state universities and $500,000 for three regional state universities. A Washburn University pilot program started in March to extend literacy-education instruction to teachers in Topeka proved popular enough to expand to three sections of 30 educators each, Baumgardner said. 'That's how eager, hungry, interested our teachers in the classroom were,' she said. 'There is tremendous interest.' Baumgardner said the 2024 elections added members to the House and Senate unfamiliar with the reading blueprint. The compressed 2025 legislative session and changes to how the budget was prepared limited opportunities for literacy advocates to speak with lawmakers about how the state could benefit of additional funding, she said. Baumgardner said she looked forward to sharing with the 2026 Legislature in January emerging evidence of how the Blueprint for Literacy influenced teachers and students.
