At least 25 state school board associations canceled their membership with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after it labeled parents “domestic terrorists,” but Kansas remains a member, and some school districts are sending board members to its conferences.
The Sentinel contacted several districts to determine if districts paid travel expenses and registration fees for designated members to attend events in 2023. Dodge City, Emporia, and Topeka did not send board members on expense-paid trips to NSBA events, but at least five districts did: USD 229 Blue Valley, Leavenworth, Olathe, Shawnee Mission, and Seaman.
USD 500 Kansas City did not respond to our inquiry.
NSBA is hosting an Equity Symposium in January 2024. This is the same organization that filed an amicus brief supporting the Fairfax County School District’s appeal of a case involving a girl who was sexually assaulted at school. An appeals court judge said the appeal amounted to schools asking to get “one free rape” before staff is responsible for inaction. And that is just one example of the equity irony touted by NSBA.
The NSBA website says, “each child, regardless of their ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, identity, or citizenship, deserves equitable access to an education that maximizes their individual potential,” but in opposing school choice programs, it effectively says children who aren’t getting a good education in public school must remain trapped there. Students are not entitled to equal opportunity in the eyes of NSBA and its member organizations.
Its disregard for student achievement is highlighted at the 2024 Equity Symposium. One of the sessions touts the Racial Equity policy adopted by Baltimore City Public Schools as a model for other districts to emulate. This is the same Baltimore school district where zero students in 13 high schools tested proficient in math on the 2023 state assessment.
Therein lies the difference between equity and equality. Equity means everyone has the same outcome, like in Baltimore, whereas equality means students have equal opportunity to excel.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) proponents say equity programs will improve student achievement, but that has not been the case.
State assessment results show outcomes are worse for Black students and low-income students in Kansas, and achievement gaps between White students and those who aren’t low-income have gotten worse.
