Jim Churchman should continue to serve on the Olathe school board.
Churchman is running against Amy Martin for one of the two position 5 seats on the board. This is his first time to run for re-election, and if his second term is anything like his first term, Churchman will serve Olathe students, their parents and the taxpayers well.
Churchman is dedicated to the school district, the board, but most importantly the people who elected him. Churchman and a group of his supporters walked door-to-door Feb. 28 during this campaign season. If people remember, it snowed that day with temperatures in the 20s. He went to more than 400 households, which shows us he cares about the people he serves, and his dedication to Olathe public schools.
But most importantly, Churchman has pushed for budget transparency since joining the board, an issue that has swept across the nation. In 2007, the Kansas Legislature passed a budget transparency law and established a Web site that the public can access to see how tax dollars are spent.
There is now a push, starting in Texas, to have school districts put budget and spending ledgers online. Churchman has pushed for budget transparency before the trend even started, and it is more important now than at any time with the current recession.
Amy Martin is the choice of the old guard. Her placement on the school board will sent Olathe back to the days of the rubber stamp, Stepford-like governance that went on too long.
Martin has accused Churchman of being detrimental to teachers and the district because of his conservative fiscal nature. Nothing can be more from the truth. Churchman pushed to give Olathe teachers the largest salary increase they’ve received in many years. Not only a one-time increase, but back-to-back increases that put teacher salaries more in line with other large school districts in the county. He did more for teachers in one term than their own union accomplished during that time. He’s not a spender, but he would rather see money spent where it counts most — in the classroom.
Martin also has attacked Churchman for his persistence to spend down district reserves. What better time than now, when no one has money. Reserves are for raining days, and it’s pouring cats and dogs.
Churchman went after the reserves to ensure that the school district didn’t push for higher tax increases, locally and at the state level, on the premise that it has no money. He did this to help teachers, students and their parents from incurring the costs, and to save taxpayers from being bilked for more dollars.
For example: A proposal came before the school board to increase fees for instructional resources. Parents would pay the increase in fees, not the district. Churchman questioned the increase because the instructional resource account already had surplus money — not thousands of dollars, but millions of dollars the district had collected from parents previous years. The board didn’t increase the fees, but it would have if Churchman hadn’t stopped and questioned the proposal.
That’s a small example of how Churchman watches how dollars are spent. This doesn’t mean he says no to everything. He has always advocated for those dollars, however, to be spent wisely, and most importantly, to reach classrooms. He’s not someone who just says no to every proposal. He does his homework. He studies hard and makes decisions based on the facts and information.
Churchman is a single, defining voice on the school board. He is someone every governing body needs as a check and balance.
