Gov. Sam Brownback has appointed an educator to the last open spot on a new Kansas commission that will examine ways to make public schools more efficient.
But a spokesman for the state’s biggest teachers’ union says earlier appointments by a legislative leader show that the panel will have an anti-public schools agenda.
On Wednesday Brownback named Hoisington High School principal Meg Wilson to the Student Performance and Efficiency Commission. He previously appointed superintendents Bev Mortimer of Concordia and Jim Hinson of Johnson County’s Shawnee Mission district.
But House Speaker Ray Merrick's two appointments have received the most attention. Those appointees are Dave Trabert, president of the conservative Kansas Policy Institute, and Kansas Chamber of Commerce CEO Mike O'Neal. Both have questioned the need for large increases in education funding.