Kansas voters, who got a wake-up call two years ago about the State Board of Education, were caught napping again in Tuesday’s primary.

How soon we forget.

For a brief time two years ago, Kansans cared about who was serving on the State Board of Education. Following the debate over whether to include questions about evolution on standardized tests for Kansas school children, Kansas voters in the moderate middle were energized and determined to alter the conservative slant of the board that sets policy for state education.

They found out who represented them on the board and found out who was running against them. They learned which of those candidates shared their views about public education and the teaching of evolution and they went to the polls and voted for those people.

The result was a new state board of education with a new emphasis. Instead of a split board made up of five conservative members and five moderates, the state had a 7-3 split on the board with moderates in the majority. Kansans had reclaimed their own public education policy.

But that was two years ago, which apparently was plenty long enough for voters to be lulled back into complacency. School board districts were redrawn to reflect changes in population and many voters went to the polls with little knowledge of who they were voting for.

Lawrence residents who want moderate representation on the board should be satisfied. Most of the city is represented by Topekan Bill Wagnon, who has two years left in his term, and the northern part of the city will continue to be represented by moderate Janet Waugh who lives in Kansas City, Kan., and held off a conservative challenger also from Kansas City.

Other parts of the state  and, therefore, the state as a whole  may not be as fortunate. Two current board members on the moderate side of the ledger were knocked out of the running in Tuesday’s primary election. Teacher Connie Morris of St. Francis defeated the board’s current chair, Sonny Rundell of Syracuse by a vote of about 60 percent to 40 percent. Rundell is a moderate. What does Morris stand for? She reportedly wants to bar children of illegal immigrants from attending public schools in the state, a move the U.S. Supreme Court says is unconstitutional.

In southeast Kansas, M. Van Meter, Thayer, won her primary race against moderate Val DeFever of Independence. Little is known about Van Meter who reportedly refused to respond to calls from the media or present any platform, but heavy support from conservative groups apparently allowed her to attack her opponent through television advertising and a direct mail campaign in the last few days before the election.

No one has filed to oppose either Morris or Van Meter in the general election, so they are likely to take their seats on the board. The same is true of John Bacon, the Olathe conservative who has represented Lawrence, and won his primary bid.

The switch of two board seats to the conservative side could set up a major philosophical shift in the board. If moderates hold on to five seats on the board, the board again may find itself in a 5-5 standoff that, before the 2000 elections, stymied most action on school policy matters.

Lawrence residents may not see this as their problem, but a philosophical shift in the board will affect every school in the state. It’s sad to see Kansas voters fall back to sleep after the 2000 wakeup call that briefly got them interested in this important board.