Johnson County faculty districts’ representation on the Kansas State Board of Training will glance unique relocating ahead.
What happened: Along with newly redrawn Congressional and condition legislative district boundaries, the lines for the 10 state board of education districts have been also altered by Kansas lawmakers before this 12 months.
- A current Kansas Supreme Courtroom final decision approved the new maps, upholding the new condition board of edu map, dubbed Apple 7, which lays out the state’s new Board of Instruction districts.
What’s diverse for JoCo: Underneath the revised map’s boundaries, components of three board of training districts now include Johnson County, when compared to two beneath the past map.
- Johnson County is now represented by Districts 2, 3 and 4, whilst prior to it was just Districts 2 and 3.
- District 2 now signifies parts of KCK, Fairway, Lake Quivira, Merriam, Mission, Leawood, Overland Park, Prairie Village, Roeland Park and Westwood, and, within just Johnson County, appears to cover elements of the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley districts.
- District 3 now signifies Edgerton, Gardner, Leawood, Lenexa, Olathe, Overland Park and Spring Hill, and inside of Johnson County, appears to addresses elements of the Blue Valley, Olathe, Gardner-Edgerton and Spring Hill districts.
- District 4 now represents Johnson County pupils from Bonner Springs, De Soto, Lake Quivira, Lenexa, Merriam, Olathe, Overland Park and Shawnee and, within Johnson County, seems to address USD 232 in De Soto and a portion of the SMSD and Olathe districts, as properly.
Who represents the county: Board of Education associates for Johnson County school districts formerly had been represented by board representatives Melanie Haas of District 2 and Michelle Dombrosky of District 3, who will go on in those people districts for now, though Dombrosky is up for reelection in 2022.
- Below the new map, state board of ed member Ann E. Mah of District 4 now signifies a significant chunk of the northwest part of Johnson County.
- Formerly, Mah’s district coated college districts in 12 counties primarily west of Johnson County in an location that included Topeka and Lawrence.
- The new map puts approximately 50 % of Mah’s constituents in Johnson County.
In their very own words and phrases: Haas, who now represents a major portion of Kansas City, Kansas, alongside with northeast Johnson County, mentioned the new makeup of the districts and their representation feels like a thing that could be irritating to voters.
- “I’m thrilled to be serving KCK,” she claimed. “But I consider that it is a huge injustice that they are not heading to have their very own illustration as they did with the former maps.”
- In a statement prior to the new maps winning last acceptance, Dombrosky explained the redrawn map would generate much more balance in who she represents: “I was elected to stand for somewhere around 55,000 college students in District #3. It seems from the maps that I would undertake a more equal balance involving a rural place and a much more populated area.”
- In a statement, Mah stated she is on the lookout ahead to conference her new constituents and that her priorities as a board member will possible not adjust
- But while Johnson County will be properly-represented less than the new map, she reported, 3 board associates is disproportionate to the county’s population: “It is not likely we will have any new board users of colour, and that is a shame. But I am hopeful we can uncover great candidates who will struggle for much better public educational institutions.”