Housing, education among top issues for local elections in Kansas

TOPEKA (KSNT) - According to political experts, housing and education are among the top issues for local elections in Kansas this year.

Candidates are facing off for city council and school board seats in districts across the state. Local Primary Elections will be held Aug. 1, before the General Election Nov. 7.

Kansas Capitol Bureau spoke with Bill Fiander, a Political Science professor who spent more than two decades as a city planner, about the upcoming election.

When it comes to city council races, Fiander said people will be looking at how leaders will address issues like homelessness and rising property tax values. He said housing has come to the forefront of issues communities are dealing with, following the coronavirus pandemic.

"Housing has moved up the ladder to a priority in a lot of local communities," Fiander said. "You are seeing more people on the streets, or unhoused, and every community needs a plan to address that in the best way that they can. Politicians are going to be asked, and they're going to lean on their staff to come up with some solutions for their own local community."

For local school board races, national conversations about parents' rights to direct their child's education may factor in.

"Many school board races used to be about programs... and funding academics...and extracurriculars... and we're seeing a little bit of a filtering of the polarization across the country down into some local school board races, in terms of it becoming less about funding and more about parental choice and rights for what their children hear, learn and see," Fiander explained.

"School board races are being won and lost on those, what I would call a little more, national, partisan, polarization-type of a platform," he continued.

School board and city council members play a critical role in local government.

City council members have the final say on which laws are passed. Meanwhile, school board members decide how and what students are learning in classrooms by setting policies and curriculums for school districts.

However, Fiander said voter turnout is usually low for local elections, which can eventually impact how communities operate.

"Water... sewer...schools… parks… those are things that effect our daily lives, so you're putting people in a position... to make sure those services are of a high standard and of quality," Fiander said.