Can state legislators dictate exactly what curriculum Kansas public school districts must teach? Does this conflict with the State Board of Education’s role, and the authority of local School Boards? If legislators 𝗰𝗮𝗻 mandate curriculum, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙨 - if any?  These questions are being asked by SUBV members following the KS Legislature’s passage of S Sub House Bill 2382 earlier this year.  S Sub HB 2382 provided for a salary increase for members of

What grade did the 2025 Republican supermajority-controlled KS Legislature earn when it comes to supporting public education in Blue Valley? Some of the state’s most influential Republican legislators hail from Blue Valley and Johnson County. Certainly they voted for our kids and their neighborhood public schools, right? Read our summary below and tell us what you think. Here are our thoughts, as parents and community members who’ve advocated for our neighborhood public schoo

BV resident Krista Gordon, who has worked in BV public schools for 10 years and whose kids attended BV Schools, highlights a concern that many citizens have with certain southern Johnson County legislators. During campaign season, they’re knocking doors and making promises. After Election Day, they’re unavailable and unresponsive. Read Gordon’s opinion piece in The Kansas Reflector here: https://bit.ly/4liJU2c   As Gordon says in her editorial, Kellie Warren and Carl Turner d

By the slimmest margin possible, Kansas voters lost their rights to a 3-day grace period on mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day. Five BV-area legislators are among those who previously voted to take away the grace period, and then voted today to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the bill. This is just the first in a series of predicted assaults on voting rights since a MAGA supermajority claimed KsLeg in 2024.  Even more alarming: KS House Election Committee Chair, Le

Email your legislators NOW: Vote NO on the veto override to repeal 3-day ballot grace period. Find your legislators and their email addresses here: https://ksleglookup.org   Mon., March 24, Gov. Kelly VETOED a bill that would END the 3-day grace period for properly completed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be received by the Election Office. The KsLeg will attempt to override her veto - and your legislators need to hear from you. If this bill becomes law, it w

In their efforts to keep the voucher-supporting, anti-tax supermajority in the KS Legislature, Americans for Prosperity has spent almost $190,000 on five Blue Valley races through Oct. 24 of this year. We won’t know AFP’s TOTAL 2024 spending on their BV-area candidates until weeks after Election Day. Total AFP spending on area candidates through Nov. 5 could exceed $250,000.  Who funds AFP? Nobody knows. Like other dark-money groups we’ve seen in this election cycle - includi

Kellie Warren, Carl Turner, Chris Croft, and Sean Tarwater love to say they voted to “fully fund our public schools.” Here’s what they...

Kellie Warren voted in 2023 to make drop boxes ILLEGAL as a way to return mail ballots. Despite assurances from local and state election officials about the efficiency and security of ballot drop boxes, and the fact that they’ve been used since 1978, the Kansas Senate last year voted on a bill to completely ban them. Sen. Cindy Holscher voted NO on the ban and Sen. Kellie Warren voted YES. (This provision was passed by the KS Senate but later removed from the bill.) Also in

Virginia-based Americans For Prosperity spent over $100,000 to help Kellie Warren beat Sen. John Skubal in the 2020 Republican primary - because Skubal didn’t vote for vouchers and cuts to public school funding. Skubal voted for BV kids. Since AFP is all about FOR-PROFIT privatization of public services and tax cuts for their billionaire backers, legislators who vote for public education stand in their way. Now AFP is back for more. We reviewed AFP’s campaign finance filings

Voucher schemes threaten funding for music education - including band, orchestra, and choir programs. Yet, BV-area legislators Kellie...

A new dark-money organization is spending tens of thousands of dollars sending campaign mailers and texts for voucher-supporting...

Voucher schemes threaten funding for school-sponsored sports and activities. BV-area legislators Kellie Warren, Carl Turner, Chris Croft,...

Local MAGA incumbent legislators Kellie Warren, Carl Turner, and Chris Croft - and groups that back them - are flooding our mailboxes....

NRA “grades” for the 2024 general election haven’t come out yet, but here’s our post from 2022 on the subject. Some of these people are running for election again this year. (That 2022 post has a link to the NRA’s Candidate Questionnaire - so you can read what it takes to get a NRA “A” grade.) https://www.facebook.com/StandUpBlueValley/posts/pfbid026drCsMfQ3wQRUtbc764xaNNmLDt9z35hXdJjrD6DxvpFjzJdhq6JeehgWKaxdrVbl In 2021, NRA-backed Kansas lawmakers voted* to allow 18- to 20-

Some Blue Valley legislators vote against our kids' schools.

More than 18% of Blue Valley students receive SpEd services - that’s much higher than the state average. The law calls for the state to reimburse 92% of the excess costs the district incurs - that is, costs over and above that of students who don’t get SpEd services. But the legislature has ignored this responsibility for years, and is currently only reimbursing 63%. This year, the difference is $12 million in Blue Valley. That means thdistrict must pull $12 MILLION from gene

Flat Tax veto Override Fails - How did BV-area State Legislators vote?

This article was originally posted 4/16/2023 on SUBV Facebook page Did your BV-area legislators vote to divert tax money to fund private...

This article was originally posted 3/16/2023 on SUBV Facebook page When they figured you were busy with Spring Break, some BV-area...

This article was originally posted 03/09/2023 on SUBV Facebook page Blue Valley-area Kansas senators Kellie Warren, Molly Baumgardner,...