Public Education Advocacy Partners

Capitol Strategies, founded in 1976, is one of the longest operating government affairs firms working in the Kansas Capitol and was the brainchild of John C. Peterson, a former Kansas State Representative. Through the years, Capitol Strategies has grown to be one of the most respected and successful government relations firms in the State of Kansas. Capitol Strategies is well positioned to meet the needs of Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools in the statehouse and with state agencies.

Sean Miller is the KCKPS lobbyist consultant of record. Bill understands key aspects of Kansas government having served in both the Kansas House and Senate as well as an executive branch agency manager prior to joining Capitol Strategies.

Read Capitol Strategies' Capitol Report.

KASB is a non-profit service organization built on a deep, abiding belief in Kansas public schools. KASB has put the needs of school districts first since 1917.

KASB believes that supporting school district leaders creates the best opportunities for every Kansas student.

• KASB has been focused on one goal for more than a century: Supporting student success by helping our members lead, serve and advocate.
• Year in and year out, we work on the issues that matter most to Kansas school districts. These are updated and approved annually by Kansas school board members at Delegate Assembly.
• Our advocacy team works year-round to build common ground and advance the needs of Kansas public schools, as adopted by our membership.
• We are a trusted voice in Kansas education.
• We represent the locally elected boards that govern public education institutions in Kansas.

KASB believes in transparent governance and transparent funding.

• Our 18-member governing board is made up of seated school board members from districts in every region of Kansas. The KASB board meets five times a year to set the vision for the daily work of Association staff.
• Our legislative platform and priorities are updated and approved every fall by a vote of our member districts.
• Our budget is funded through a combination of membership dues, partnerships and fee-based services that members may select.
• The dues we collect fund services that benefit all members, such as advocacy, policy support, research and educational resources on timely topics.
• Separate, optional fees cover services that members use selectively, such as the annual convention, workshops, or custom assistance from KASB’s legal, leadership services or communications teams.

USA-Kansas is a statewide "umbrella" organization comprised of members of eight school administrator associations. It represents more than 2,000 individual administrators statewide. Their mission is to develop and unite educational leaders to support and advocate for the success of every Kansas student.

These are USA-Kansas legislative positions on school funding:

• fully funding the school finance formula currently in law in order to meet the needs of all students, the full commitment to meeting the CPI funding in current law. 
• a fully funded school finance formula should include high density at-risk funding without a sunset provision.
• a five-year (or less) plan to meet the statutory rate of 92% of the excess cost of Special Education Services.
• continued support for Early Childhood Education, to include universal preschool, as supported by the Kansans Can initiative.
• equitable state aid for school bonds that are not arbitrarily capped or dependent on other districts.