Some Wichita-area voters will decide who will represent them on the Kansas State Board of Education in November. Some will decide who advances in a primary election first.
Members of the state board serve four-year terms. They are paid roughly $12,600 a year – $88.66 per day plus a $166 daily subsistence allowance for official meeting days.
The state board sets subject-area standards and oversees state assessment tests but does not make specific curriculum decisions — those are up to local school boards. The board also doesn’t make decisions about school funding. Those issues are handled by the Kansas Legislature and governor.
Members elected Nov. 3 will take office in January.
State BOE District 9 Republican primary
This district covers most of southeast Kansas. Republican incumbent Jim Porter is not seeking reelection.
Kristian Gerken
Age: 40
Incumbent: No
Position: Worship leader
Past positions: No answer provided
Education: No answer provided
Campaign phone: No answer provided
Campaign email: kfgerken@gmail.com
Campaign website: https://www.facebook.com/Gerken4KSBOE
Tell voters about yourself. What background or perspective on education would you bring to the Kansas State Board of Education?
My greatest qualification is the perspective I bring as a parent of five children and someone who has personally navigated the education system. Advocating for my own children, including fighting to ensure my son received the support and testing he needed for dyslexia, has given me a deeper understanding of the challenges families face when seeking resources for their children. I am currently on the Paola USD 368 BOE. I bring leadership experience through serving along side my husband in pastoring and being business owners.
What should the State Board of Education do to improve student achievement?
I believe we can have strong academic expectations while still respecting local control. The role of the State Board is to set clear standards and expectations so every Kansas student has access to a quality education. Those standards should not become a one-size-fits-all approach that takes decision-making away from local communities. The balance comes through clear expectations, transparency, and collaboration. We should hold schools accountable for student outcomes, while allowing districts the flexibility to determine how best to meet those goals.
Do you believe Kansas public schools are adequately funded by the Legislature? What areas of the state education budget require the most advocacy from the board?
I’m glad legislators are reviewing the funding formula, but I don’t believe simply changing the formula will solve the problem. Without taking an honest look at how dollars are currently being spent and what we are prioritizing, the formula will never subsidize enough. The real question is whether funding is reaching classrooms, supporting teachers, and improving outcomes for students. Kansas families and taxpayers deserve transparency, accountability, and a system that puts student success ahead of bureaucracy.
What state-level policy changes or licensing updates would you support to address the critical teacher and support-staff shortages across Kansas?
No answer provided.
Over the past four years, state lawmakers have considered measures to give parents more oversight and control over what’s taught in public schools. What are your thoughts on parents’ rights and what districts should be required to do?
I believe America is facing a moral crisis, and we are seeing the effects of that drift show up in our schools. More and more, schools are being pulled away from their core purpose, and parents are being pushed to the sidelines. Parents should be free to raise their children according to their values, and schools need to get back to educating our kids. Parents are the primary voice in their child’s life and education. They deserve the right to review materials, ask questions, and have a real seat at the table when decisions are being made.
As Board of Education races have grown increasingly polarized, how will you ensure your decisions are guided by educational data and public input rather than partisan agendas?
We should always be asking: what is best for Kansas students? As a State Board member, I will listen to parents, educators, and local communities while also looking at the data and outcomes. We need to be willing to have honest conversations about what is working and what is not. As a parent of five, I understand the importance of having leaders who are willing to listen and be accountable. The focus should not be on politics; it should be on improving literacy, strengthening academics, supporting teachers, and making sure every Kansas student has the opportunity to succeed.
Destry Brown
Brown has not yet responded to the voter guide questionnaire.
Renee Slinkard
Slinkard has not yet responded to the voter guide questionnaire.
State BOE District 9 Democratic candidate
There is no primary on the Democratic side
Heather Guernsey
Age: 46
Incumbent: No
Position: Homemaker
Past positions: USD 413 (Chanute) board member
Education: Bachelor’s in education from Emporia State University, master’s in curriculum and instruction from Emporia State University
Campaign phone: 620-212-9095
Campaign email: hello@heatherguernseyforkansas.com
Campaign website: heatherguernseyforkansas.com
Tell voters about yourself. What background or perspective on education would you bring to the Kansas State Board of Education?
I am a former elementary teacher. I have my masters in Curriculum and Instruction. I am currently serving on the USD413 Board of Education.
What should the State Board of Education do to improve student achievement?
Put students before politics, advocate for more local control, support teachers, support rural districts, have accountability for results
Do you believe Kansas public schools are adequately funded by the Legislature? What areas of the state education budget require the most advocacy from the board?
No, the legislature does not adequately fund education. Special education requires the most advocacy, but in doing that, more funds can be spent on all students in the districts. (Because districts won’t have to spend their general fund dollars to make up the special ed deficit from the state)
What state-level policy changes or licensing updates would you support to address the critical teacher and support-staff shortages across Kansas?
I would be open to various changes, as long as high expectations are still met.
Over the past four years, state lawmakers have considered measures to give parents more oversight and control over what’s taught in public schools. What are your thoughts on parents’ rights and what districts should be required to do?
School districts and parents have always been able to communicate and work together. Local control aids in this effort.
As Board of Education races have grown increasingly polarized, how will you ensure your decisions are guided by educational data and public input rather than partisan agendas?
I will read the educational data and ask questions to understand the information. I will listen to experts, teachers, and parents. We might not agree on everything, but we can agree that Kansas kids deserve an excellent education.
State BOE District 7
This district covers central and south-central Kansas and includes Hutchinson, Great Bend, Newton, Salina and Abilene. Republican incumbent Dennis Hershberger is not seeking reelection. Neither party has a primary, so these candidates will advance to the November general election.
Ann Zimmerman
Party: Democrat
Age: 69
Incumbent: No
Position: Attorney-Mediator, Singer-Songwriter
Past positions: Staff attorney at Kansas Legal Services, elementary teacher, bank clerk, plumbing wholesale catalog editor
Education: Salina South High School, Kansas State University (Manhattan), Harvard Law School
Campaign phone: 785-493-2981
Campaign email: ann@annzimmerman.com
Campaign website: www.VoteAnnZimmerman.info
Tell voters about yourself. What background or perspective on education would you bring to the Kansas State Board of Education?
In my third term on the Salina school board, I have a deep understanding of Kansas public schools. I graduated from Salina South High School, earned an elementary education degree at K-State (Manhattan) and began teaching in inner city schools in Kansas City, Kansas. That was the hardest job I’ve ever had. Later I went on to something easier. I went to Harvard, got a law degree, came back to Kansas. Now as a mediator, I work with people in conflict, helping them to find common ground. I use those skills in all parts of my life and would bring them to KSBE.
What should the State Board of Education do to improve student achievement?
We must look at districts that outperform the others and replicate what they do. We must also look at states that outperform Kansas and see if their experience can be replicated. In recent years, Kansas Association of School Boards surveyed higher-performing states. KASB found the primary difference between Kansas and those states was that those states spent more money on their schools. The legislature, not KSBE, controls school funding. Kansans must elect legislators willing to fully support Kansas kids - both general education students and special education students.
Do you believe Kansas public schools are adequately funded by the Legislature? What areas of the state education budget require the most advocacy from the board?
Kansas schools are not fully funded. The legislature has been dragged into adequate funding by a lawsuit filed by underfunded districts. But that was only for general education funding. Special education (SPED) is a separate budget category and has been starved for funds for over a decade. Kansas schools are taking money from their general education budget to cover the required costs of SPED. In my Salina district alone, we move $6 million from our general education budget to cover the unfunded costs of SPED. Think how much more we could do if that $6 million were funded as needed.
What state-level policy changes or licensing updates would you support to address the critical teacher and support-staff shortages across Kansas?
First, if our schools were fully funded, we could pay teachers more. That would help the teacher shortage. Second, if well-funded dark-money organizations weren’t showering the state with denigrating misinformation about public schools, teachers would feel less disrespect and would likely teach longer. Lacking those necessary prerequisites, we must be very careful not to lower standards to the point where teachers are not fully competent.
Over the past four years, state lawmakers have considered measures to give parents more oversight and control over what’s taught in public schools. What are your thoughts on parents’ rights and what districts should be required to do?
Nearly all parents have confidence in their children’s teachers. Our schools have always welcomed interaction between parents and teachers - schools have sometimes had to beg parents to show up for parent-teacher conferences and to be fully engaged with their children’s schools. All sides must treat each other with respect. Including parents in the effort of teaching students is part of the job, and teachers almost always welcome that participation. Districts choose curriculum carefully. There are subject where parents may opt their children out. Most parents do not opt out.
As Board of Education races have grown increasingly polarized, how will you ensure your decisions are guided by educational data and public input rather than partisan agendas?
We must choose carefully our sources of data and education information, being cautious that the sources are not influenced by the anti-public-schools dark-money organizations.
Alana McWilliams
Party: Republican
Age: 40
Incumbent: No
Position: Small Business Owner & Marketing Professional
Past positions: Founder & Author, Director of Marketing, Director of Public Relations, Director of Communications, Chief of Staff
Education: Bachelor’s Degree
Campaign phone: 316-640-1929
Campaign email: alanamcwilliamsforsboe@gmail.com
Campaign website: https://www.alanamcwilliams.com/
Tell voters about yourself. What background or perspective on education would you bring to the Kansas State Board of Education?
I have been in the rooms where reading failure is visible: in IEP meetings for my own child and on the SLC board at Hutchinson Correctional (where 80% of inmates have a reading-based issue). I spent a decade in Washington learning how hard problems get solved. Kansas has slid from 5th to 36th in reading. In 2025, the State Board allowed KSDE to remove Take Flight, Alphabetic Phonics, and other proven programs from the at-risk list. Tools that worked, taken from children who needed them for intervention. I understood then how much it matters who sits on this Board. That is why I am running.
What should the State Board of Education do to improve student achievement?
The unanimous, bipartisan Kansas Blueprint for Literacy is a roadmap, but only if it’s fully implemented. Universal screenings, individual plans for struggling readers, reading specialists in schools, these are not suggestions, but Kansas law. Carrying this educational reform out, requires working relationships with our constitutional partners: the Legislature, Board of Regents, and local school districts. My governing question is this: are we letting evidence and student outcomes lead? It’s the Board’s job to lead this conversation, and it will take all of us to improve for Kansas kids.
Do you believe Kansas public schools are adequately funded by the legislature? What areas of the state education budget require the most advocacy from the board?
Show me your budget and I’ll show you your priorities. Kansas already directs 58% of the entire state budget to education. The question is not whether we spend enough, it is whether we spend it on the right things, at the right time. The State Board must lead: directing local districts and the legislature to prioritize early literacy over costly remediation later. When we get it wrong, the cost follows a child for life. Low readers form the single largest identifiable group in our prisons and on public assistance. Getting reading right from the start is the wisest investment we can make.
What state-level policy changes or licensing updates would you support to address the critical teacher and support-staff shortages across Kansas?
Kansas has one of the highest teacher attrition rates in the nation. We should continue streamlining reciprocity to attract qualified educators from other states and work on recruitment incentives, but we won’t solve the problem if we don’t improve retention. We need to listen to teachers about the day-to-day realities that they want: more plan time, consequences for poor student behavior, and support for their profession. If we don’t improve working conditions, no licensure update or policy change will stop the revolving door.
Over the past four years, state lawmakers have considered measures to give parents more oversight and control over what’s taught in public schools. What are your thoughts on parents’ rights and what districts should be required to do?
Districts should be required to identify problems early, communicate in plain language, and be transparent about everything affecting a child’s education. The parents’ rights debate often misses the point; this is really about trust. Parents shouldn’t have to fight for honest information or wonder whether they’re getting the full picture of what is taking place in our schools. I have one question for any school that resists sharing this information: why?
As Board of Education races have grown increasingly polarized, how will you ensure your decisions are guided by educational data and public input rather than partisan agendas?
Kansas families don’t care whether an idea comes from the left or the right, they care whether it helps their children succeed. The Board’s job is to follow the evidence, not the politics. NAEP scores don’t have a party and the science of reading isn’t partisan. When only about half of Kansas students read proficiently, every decision should begin with the data, include input from parents and teachers, and answer one question: Will this improve outcomes for kids? If not, we need a better solution.
