Editor's note: This is one in a series of profiles on candidates for Lawrence school board. Each day this week, the Journal-World will profile one of the six candidates in the race.
Lawrence school board candidate Kurt Thurmaier implores voters to think outside the box.
The Kansas University associate professor of public administration is advocating a collection of unusual ideas for changing the way people view public schools.
One of his most frequently mentioned ideas would involve city and county financing of nonacademic school programs. He suggested that the city invest $1 million annually in the district's athletics programs and the county provide $700,000 a year for school nursing programs.
"It's time to think outside the box that traps Lawrence into thinking that there is not enough money to fund public schools," Thurmaier said.
City and county administrators have been cool to the idea, but Thurmaier says not a single elected public official has rejected either proposal. He'd like to convene a community summit with city, county and school officials to talk about it.
"They'll be convinced if residents tell them what they want," he said.
Thurmaier, 43, grew up in Steven's Point, Wis. He earned an economics degree in 1980 and a master's degree in public policy in 1983 at the University of Wisconsin. He married his wife, Jeanine, in 1983 after meeting on a blind date at a church function.
From 1984 to 1987, Thurmaier worked as a budget analyst for the state of Wisconsin. He devoted three years to earning a doctorate in public administration at Syracuse University in New York before joining the KU faculty in 1990.
He's no stranger to Lawrence public schools. His daughter Emily attends Central Junior High School and daughter Anna attends Lawrence High School. He's been active in parent groups at Cordley School and CJHS.
In 1997, Thurmaier made his presence felt in school politics by helping organize Save Our Schools. The group backed school board candidates opposed to closing Lawrence elementary schools. No schools were closed.
Thurmaier said he believes firmly in neighborhood schools. The district has 19 elementary schools, and they should remain open as long as parents of children in those buildings are satisfied with the quality, he said.
"The weight ought to be in parental preference," Thurmaier said.
He is not against reconfiguring academic programs.
He's called for creation of a Spanish language magnet elementary school and a junior high magnet school for students unlikely to attend college.
"My concern, as a parent, is we are losing kids' interest in education as early as junior high," he said. "Their success is implicitly defined as academic success preparing for college. If they're not engaged, mentally they drop out and then physically drop out."
The primary thrust of Thurmaier's campaign has been nontraditional alternatives to paying for public schools. He said it was folly to wait for state government to provide leadership and financing to improve education. Public schools are "bound to deteriorate and fail" if they don't embrace innovation, he said.
"You can't keep the same quality and quantity of services with less money. You can't do that for 10 years, given state funding doesn't match inflation."
He offers this example of a missed opportunity: The city and school district should have opened a branch public library in Langston Hughes School when it opened in August amid extensive residential development near West 15th Street.
"I'm frustrated," Thurmaier said. "We need someone advocating for a community approach to schools. I'll help Lawrence think about schools as a community asset."
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