Gov. Kelly talks education at Olpe Schools

“I do want to congratulate the Governor’s Scholars, congratulations, job well done, and also all of the athletic teams who apparently are just scaring the heck out of everybody across the state in the 1A division,” Kelly said, addressing the students.

Then she sat down with the superintendents to discuss her education goals as governor and to hear from those in the districts about what their needs are.

“I ran for governor to be the education governor,” Kelly said. “I have been an ardent supporter of public education, not only during my time in the state legislature but also before that. The public education system in Kansas is one of the things that attracted my husband and me to move from Colorado to Kansas. … As education governor, I will make sure that the same opportunities that were available for my daughters are available for all Kansas kids.”

Kelly asked the superintendents to share with her what the past year had been like for them, as well as what needs they are facing that can be addressed by the state government.

Several superintendents said that they are facing a teacher shortage and that it is difficult to hire and retain teachers largely because of salary limitations and the low regard with which the teaching profession seems to be viewed.

Kelly agreed.

“I agree with you that we can get away with a whole lot less money if we show a whole lot more respect and provide teachers with the resources they need to do their job and to do it well,” she said. “But I do think that salaries are important. At the very end of the day, you’ve got to feed your families, you’ve got to pay your rent, you have to do whatever it is you have to do. So I think we need to continue to work with the legislature and ensure that the funding that we’re giving for schools is adequate.”

After talking with the superintendents, Kelly expressed her admiration for what USD 252 and all Kansas schools had done to keep their doors open and students learning throughout the pandemic.

“I think the biggest takeaway from all of this is how incredibly resilient our education community is,” she said. “They have weathered an awful challenge this past year. Teaching, running a school is challenging enough, but then to try to do all of this during a pandemic, they’ve just been remarkable. I was impressed with them at the very get-go when we shut the schools down a year ago in March that within days they had created an alternative learning, a remote learning program that they shared with their colleagues all across the state. They’ve just built on that and impressed me even more.”

The governor said that this wasn’t her first trip to Olpe, but that it had been a while since she had last been to town and that she was amazed by how much it had grown.

“I spent 18 years as executive director for the Kansas Recreation and Park Association so I traveled all over the state and every community, no matter what size, on behalf of that association and their membership,” Kelly said. “ … Just driving in today, [I saw that] the housing has gone up. That’s very, very impressive.”