The second amendment under the Kansas Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the State of Kansas reads:

“All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority”

The third amendment under the Kansas Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the State of Kansas reads:

“The people have the right to assemble, in a peaceable manner, to consult for their common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the government or any department thereof for the redress of grievances” (emphasis added)

The sixth article of The Constitution of the State of Kansas reads:

”Local public schools under the general supervision of the state board of education shall be maintained, developed and operated by locally elected boards” (emphasis added)

According to the most significant documents within our great state of Kansas, public schools are maintained, developed, and operated by locally elected boards, and we the people have the right to consult, instruct, and petition the government or any department thereof, for the redress of grievances as all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on the authority of the people.

Furthermore, under K.S.A. 38-141, “It shall be the public policy of this state that parents shall retain the fundamental right to exercise primary control over the care and upbringing of their children in their charge”

However, according to the Kansas State Attorney General’s website under Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Kansas Open Meetings Act, 

“the KOMA does not require that the public be allowed to talk at public meetings; unless some other law requires it, whether to allow the public a chance to speak at public meetings is a policy decision”.

The Citizen’s Guide to Open Government, published by the office of the Kansas Attorney General, also clarifies that the KOMA does not require the public be allowed to speak at public meetings.

The purpose of this petition is to formally declare that Kansas students, public school faculty/staff, parents/guardians, tax payers and voters have a right to consult, instruct, and petition for the redress of grievances in a public forum before their local school boards, a body of elected officials. All Kansas school boards should be required to both provide time for public comments as part of their meetings, and keep a public record of these comments, to be accessible to the community upon request. 

Since the 2019-2020 school year our school districts have seen an increase in engagement from community members at their BOE meetings. This increase in engagement comes with an increase in the number of community members wanting to address the board as a whole, in a public forum, and/or to view the public comments made by their fellow community members. A natural result of increased public involvement in our democratic process is that disagreements will arise, and so may tensions between the board members and unhappy community members. In too many Kansas school districts the solution seems to be to limit public comments by means of ceasing to broadcast or live-stream them, or removing the public comments to a separate, unrecorded meeting. When researching various districts in Kansas, some Board of Educations’ meeting agendas show no time in their meetings for public comments at all. When members of the community appeal to have these public forums provided, they are reminded that the school boards are not required to hear public comment. What reason can there be to restrict public comment, or imply that these forums may be taken away altogether, other than to reduce the knowledge and involvement of the governed; to impede the democratic process? There is no reason other than this.

More importantly we ask, if the policies, curriculum, safety, use of funding, etc which directly or indirectly impact the education of our students are not worthy of a requirement that the elected officials charged with these very items provide a public forum for comment: what is? 

With our signatures, the people of Kansas petition the Kansas State Board of Education to do all within their power to protect our students, protect the governed, protect our democratic process, and protect the principles upon which our state’s constitution was written, by requiring that all Kansas school boards hear public comments at their regular BOE meetings, and maintain a public record of such. We also call on our State Legislature to recognize this pressing need and join us in this effort.