TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A member of a Salina-area school board is the Democratic nominee for the State Board of Education seat for northeast and north-central Kansas on the State Board of Education, and a retired Wichita school administrator will represent another district.
Carol Viar, of Salina, had 53 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary race in the 6th State Board District. She defeated Usha Reddi, a first-grade teacher from Manhattan.
Viar, an accountant and a lay Presbyterian minister, serves on the Southeast of Saline school board. She will face former state Rep. Deena Horst, a Salina Republican, in November.
The only other contested primary for a board seat was in the 8th District in Wichita. Challenger Kathy Busch, a retired Wichita school administrator and principal, received 61 percent of the vote against incumbent and fellow Republican Walt Chappell. There is no Democrat running.
Five of the 10 board seats will be on the ballot in the November election, with members serving four-year terms.
The candidates in the contested primaries acknowledged that they faced questions about how public schools should teach evolution, but all four were comfortable with the state’s current, evolution-friendly science standards, adopted in 2007. The issue is shadowing races because educators expect the board members elected this year to update the standards early next year.
Kansas had five sets of science standards from 1999 to 2007, as conservative Republicans skeptical of evolution gained and then lost board majorities. Each switch away from evolution-friendly standards brought Kansas international attention and, in some cases, ridicule.
Viar and Horst are seeking to replace retiring board member Kathy Martin, a Clay Center Republican who has been among the conservative evolution skeptics.
The Wichita contest was notable because Chappell, who sought his second term, has clashed with other board members in questioning whether public schools have been held accountable enough for how well they educate their students or how efficiently they spend their tax dollars.
Busch raised nearly $22,000 for her campaign, more than twice as much as Chappell, who received about $9,800 in cash contributions. The challenger had financial support from groups representing teachers, administrators and public employees.
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